


How Do You Choose?

by Algernon Fenton (A_Eelif)



Series: Bleach Mpreg Series [1]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Drama, Family, Humor, M/M, Mpreg, Romance, Sexual Content, Yaoi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-05
Updated: 2013-02-01
Packaged: 2017-11-23 19:16:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 36,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/625637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Eelif/pseuds/Algernon%20Fenton
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Something just isn't right and Jushiro knows it. What if it's a tumor or worse! This little 'problem' will change his and Shunsui's life forever, but maybe it isn't as bad as they think it will be. Yaoi, mpreg (in later chapters). You have been warned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I'm Not in the Mood, but...

Anime/Manga » Bleach » How Do You Choose?

 

 

I do not own Bleach.  
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The Captain of Squad Thirteen was desperately trying to sleep. He'd had a rough day of coughing and wheezing and of course all this respiratory distress happened during a Captain's meeting. He'd finally gotten his lungs under control with some tea and some medicine Unohana had given him earlier in the year. Jushiro Ukitake was having trouble sleeping, but it wasn't because of his lungs.

No, he was having trouble sleeping due to his long time friend and lover, Shunsui Kyoraku constantly jabbing him with a persistent finger, "Hey, Ju? Can we have sex?"

Jushiro rolls his eyes and lets out a disgruntled sigh. He was starting to regret letting his lover spend the night, "Not tonight, Shunsui. I'm very tired."

"You said that last night." He lets out a loud sigh of frustration, "It's been almost three weeks since we last made love…please, Ju!"

"I'm not in the mood." He turns away from Shunsui giving him his back, "It's not that I don't enjoy it, but I'm just exhausted. All this coughing has really worn me out." He pulls the cover up to his chin, "Please, try to understand."

The eighth captain frowns, "Okay, I'll just go to sleep then." He turns over making their backs be facing each other as he lets out a pitiful sound.

Jushiro closes his green eyes and attempts to get some sleep, but the gnawing, guilty feeling of leaving Shunsui unsatisfied just makes it impossible to sleep. He knew Shunsui wouldn't die from no sex, but he had been denying his best friend love making for almost a month. He finally lets out a defeated sigh as he rolls back over. He places a pale hand on his lover's back, "Shunsui, are you asleep?"

"Not yet." He turns to face his white haired friend, "What's up? I thought you were tired. I figured you would be asleep by now."

"Well, I decided…I mean, if you still want to…that we can have sex." A light pink blush creeps to his cheeks as he waits for Shunsui's reply.

The eighth captain's grey eyes show his confusion with Jushiro's contradictory words, "But, I thought you said you were too tired."

"I guess I'm not as tired as I thought." He gives his brunet lover an embarrassed smile, "Do you want to?"

Shunsui cups the thirteenth captain's face in his hands as he presses his full lips to the soft, warm ones belonging to his lover. The kiss is an innocent one and the brunet pulls back shortly after it began, "Of course I do, but don't force yourself if you really are too tired."

"I'm fine." He begins taking his sleepwear off and encourages Shunsui to do the same, "Just make love to me."

The brunet nods as he also begins undressing. It's not long before the two shinigami are naked and Shunsui gently places his body over Jushiro's body. The pale captain's green eyes look up into Shunsui's grey eyes making the eighth captain shudder at all the trust held in those emerald eyes, "I love you, Ju."

Before the white haired Soul Reaper can respond, his lips are captured once more by Shunsui's lips. The brunet slips his tongue into his lover's mouth through his already parted lips and allows his tongue to explore the moist cavern that held no surprises just a comforting familiarity after all the years the two of them had been together. Jushiro moans as his own tongue joins in and slides across Shunsui's tongue as the kiss continues. The kiss ends as the two shinigami take in breaths of air, but the white haired captain's renewed breath is just as quickly sucked back in as he feels Shunsui's warm tongue on his left nipple. The tongue of his lover swirls around the already pert flesh causing the thirteenth captain to close his eyes and moan his appreciation, "Please, Shunsui…more."

The eighth captain raises his head and smiles, "For someone originally opposed to the idea of making love, you sure are eager to get to the main event."

Jushiro opens his eyes again and gives his best friend a look of pure lust, "I guess I just didn't realize how badly I wanted it until you started."

"Then Heaven forbid, I keep you from getting what you want." He shoots his friend another smirk before making his way farther down his body where he gently grips the hard flesh residing between the thirteenth captain's legs, "Is this what you want, Ju?"

"Yes, I want it." He bucks his hips up trying to gain more friction from the large, calloused hand gripping his very sensitive erection.

The brunet begins stroking his hand up and down the rigid shaft causing Jushiro to let out sighs of contentment from the pleasing actions of his lover. Shunsui, not wanting to waste time, reaches for their stash of lube and gathers some of it on his fingers. He slowly inserts his index finger into the searing tight hole of his white haired lover as he continues to pump said lover's dripping cock. It doesn't take long before a second finger joins the first in stretching and sliding in and out of the thirteenth captain's entrance. When the third finger is added, Shunsui hears a sharp intake of breath and he knows he's found his lover's sweet spot. He prods that spot with his fingers a few more times listening to the soft keens of pleasure escaping Jushiro's throat as he does so.

The eighth captain decides that his white haired lover is prepared enough and removes his fingers as well as the hand stroking Jushiro's cock. The thirteenth captain lets out a sound of disappointment at the loss of all the pleasurable sensations, but he knows something better is on its way. Shunsui picks the lube back up from where he'd dropped it earlier and slicks the cold liquid onto his own heated, hard cock. He lets out a soft groan at his own touch, but releases his member once the lube has thoroughly coated his length. He grabs his best friend's legs and spreads them even wider than they already were and smiles down at his fellow shinigami, "Are you ready?"

Jushiro nods and Shunsui grabs his own arousal as he guides the head of his cock into the tight opening of his lover. The two men both lets out blissful sounds as the rest of the brunet's length penetrates the heated hole of the thirteenth captain. When Shunsui is fully seated inside his lover, they both cease all movements as each of them adjusts to being connected to the other.

The eighth captain waits for the signal to move and when he sees Jushiro nod his head, the bearded shinigami pulls his hips back a bit and buries his length into his lover again. Shunsui's thrusts eventually become more fluid and Jushiro wraps his pale legs around the brunet's waist as he lifts his own hips in order to feel more of the eighth captain's length slide into him.

"Harder, Sh-Shunsui!" Jushiro's nails digs deeply into the flesh of Shunsui's back as he tries to hold onto something to keep himself grounded as he's pounded into over and over again.

The brunet smiles as he picks up his pace and slams into his lover harder and faster, "For someone who…didn't even want to…you sure are being demanding."

Jushiro ignores his friend's comment as he feels his release fast approaching and when Shunsui squeezes his hand between their undulating bodies and grabs the thirteenth captain's cock to pump it in time with his thrusts, the white haired captain loses all self-restraint and cums between their sweaty bodies. He moans loudly as he grips Shunsui's flesh even harder, sending trickles of blood down the other's back.

Shunsui thrusts a few more times into the hot, pulsing hole of his lover and he too spills his release deep inside the panting shinigami beneath him. He rides out his orgasm as he continues to pump Jushiro's cock, milking every last bit of essence from the pale man. When their pleasure subsides, he pulls out of the exhausted body of his lover and lays down beside him on the futon.

The two of them lay together panting for a few seconds before Shunsui pulls Jushiro into his arms, "I'm glad you changed your mind, Ju."

"Me too. I love you." He lets out a satisfied sigh as he closes his green eyes.

"I love you too." Shunsui tightens the embrace around Jushiro's thin body and takes in the scent of his lover mixed with sweat and sex and falls asleep still holding the warm body of his best friend.

TBC…


	2. Bad Timing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NA

I do not own Bleach.

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One month later, another Captain's meeting is held to discuss the ever fluctuating budget. None of the captain's wanted to discuss the budget, but it was something that had to be done. The Head Captain needed to know if the money was being used wisely or not. As always, Byakuya's squad was above budget and everyone, but Squad Eleven and Squad Eight were on budget. The reasons for those particular squads' deficit were simple; Squad Eight had too many drunken parties and Squad Eleven broke something every day and had an awful lot of money going to fund the enormous candy supply.

Shunsui was sitting across the table from Jushiro looking every bit as bored as everyone else felt. Jushiro on the other hand was trying to keep a professional composure, but was finding it very difficult due to the rising nausea in his stomach. He hadn't eaten anything since the night before because when he woke up he felt horrible and didn't think he could keep anything down, but he still felt as though he might vomit at any second.

After holding in his nausea for what seemed like hours, he finally can't contain it any longer. His green eyes widen as he brings a pale hand to his mouth. Everyone looks at him expecting him to cough as usual, but instead the thirteenth captain stands up and bolts from the meeting room. All eyes follow his departure and all ears hear his retching out in the hallway.

Jushiro had tried to make it to the restroom, but in his attempt to hold it in for so long, he only managed to make it just outside the meeting room where he promptly empties his stomach onto the floor. He vomits a few more times before slumping to his knees and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. When he looks up, he sees Captain Unohana standing over him with her usual caring smile on her face.

"Feeling any better, Captain Ukitake?" She holds her hand out to him in an attempt to help him up off the floor.

He takes her offered hand and slowly makes his way to his feet again, "I don't know what happened. I didn't feel well when I first woke up this morning." He pushes his white hair off his forehead with a pale hand, "It must have been something I ate last night before bed."

"Are you sure? I could take a look if you think it might be a bug of some sort." She smiles again as she offers to treat him, but he shakes his head.

"No, thank you." He returns her smile, "I feel much better now, but I think I will go back to my home just in case I have something contagious."

She nods in understanding, "Do you need someone to walk you to your home?"

"I think I'll be fine. Just let the Head Captain know where I've gone." He sees her nod again and walk back into the meeting room. He makes sure someone knows about the messy floor before heading back to his own home where he lays down on his futon to rest.

Later that evening, Shunsui comes over to inquire on his friend's hurling during the meeting to see that his white haired lover is up and about making tea, "Hey, Ju, how you feeling?"

"I'm fine." He continues to walk around the kitchen gathering all the ingredients for tea, "I've been fine all day. I don't know what happened at the meeting, but it was very embarrassing."

"Come on, Ju, everyone gets sick now and again." He begins helping his friend make the tea and gets down two tea cups, "No one thought anything of it."

Jushiro lets out a frustrated sigh, "I just hope nothing like that happens again. It's bad enough when I have to leave because of a coughing fit." He lets out a soft chuckle, "At least everyone's used to that."

Once the tea is prepared, the two shinigami pour some for themselves and have a seat in the living room where they sip their tea in silence. After several minutes of quiet tea drinking, the thirteenth captain speaks, "I'm pretty tired. I think I'm going to go to bed."

He stands up and places his tea cup on the counter in the kitchen and Shunsui does the same, "I'll come with you."

Jushiro nods and the two men make their way to the bedroom. Once the white haired Soul Reaper is settled on the futon, Shunsui joins him and presses himself against his lover's back as he wraps his arms around the smaller man. Jushiro sinks into the embrace, but still cautions Shunsui, "You'd better hope I don't have anything contagious since you're so close to me."

The brunet smiles against the skin on the back of Jushiro neck, "I'll take my chances." He kisses the soft, pale skin of his lover's neck and the two of them eventually drift off to sleep.

Early the next morning, the thirteenth captain wakes to the same nauseous feeling as the day before. He can still feel Shunsui's arms around him and hates that he'll have to wake his lover up, but he needed to get to a restroom fast! He quickly pushes the eighth captain's arms away from him as he races to the restroom. Once he's in the restroom, he flings himself down in front of the toilet and loses everything he'd eaten that day. He throws up a few more times and flushes the toilet before he realizes his lover is standing in the doorway with a glass of water.

Shunsui offers Jushiro the water which he gladly accepts and slowly sips some of the liquid down his throat. The brunet gives him a worried look, "I thought you said you were feeling better."

"I was, but I suddenly felt nauseous again." He takes another sip of water, "I didn't mean to wake you up."

Shunsui lets out a sigh of concern, "I'm not upset about being woken up. I'm worried about you."

"There's nothing to be worried about, Shunsui." He stands up to wipe his mouth on a towel, "It's probably just a little bug."

The eighth captain gives him a skeptical look, but nods in agreement, "Okay, but if it doesn't go away in a few days, I think you should go see Retsu."

"Oh, Shunsui, you worry too much. I'm feeling better all re…" His emerald eyes widen again as he slumps back over the toilet and vomits again.

Shunsui sighs as he gathers his lover's long white locks to keep them out of the way, "You don't look or sound better to me."

After about an hour of off and on vomiting, the sickness seems to be over with…at least for the time being. Jushiro takes a shower to clean himself up and when he emerges from the restroom, Shunsui makes him lay down on the futon. The thirteenth captain lets out a sigh, but lays down anyway, "This really isn't necessary, Shunsui. I'm fine now."

"That's what you said yesterday." He walks over to the table and grabs a bowl filled with soup, "I want you to eat this. It'll make you feel better."

"Where did you get that?" He takes the warm bowl in his hands to see that it is indeed soup.

Shunsui sits down beside him on the futon, "I had Kiyone make it while you were in the shower."

The white haired captain groans, "You let those two know I was sick? They'll drive me nuts all day."

"Look, I have to go back to my own squad and do some stuff and I just asked them to keep an eye on you." He frowns at the repulsed look on his lover's face, "I know they're a little…enthusiastic, but it's because they care about you."

Jushiro lets out a breath of agitation, "I suppose, but they're so competitive that they can't do anything in a timely manner."

He strokes Jushiro's damp hair and gives him a peck on the cheek, "Just try to take it easy today, okay?"

The thirteenth captain nods, "Okay." He takes a spoonful of soup into his mouth and gives Shunsui a smile, "I'm fine, but if you want me to rest today I will."

"And, you'll go see Retsu if it doesn't get better?"

He nods, "I'll give it a week." He takes another spoonful of soup, "If I'm still sick in a week, I'll go see her." Shunsui nods in approval as he stands up from the futon and heads out of the house to his own squad.

Needless to say, the thirteenth captain didn't get better in a week and Shunsui was really starting to get worried, not to mention the members of Squad Thirteen. The two shinigami are lying on Jushiro's futon one night after another round of being ill and Shunsui turns to look at his friend, "This has gone on long enough. I think you should go see Retsu tomorrow."

Jushiro takes in a deep breath and slowly lets it back out, "I guess you're right." He doesn't say anything for a long time and when he does speak again his voice trembles, "What if something's really wrong with me? What if I can't get better?"

"Don't say that, Ju." He grabs his lover's pale hand in his and squeezes it tightly, "Retsu will know what to do."

"Will you come with me?" He gives the brunet a pleading look, but knows the answer to his question when he sees the frown on Shunsui's face.

"I want to, but I can't." He breathes out a frustrated breath, "I have too much work to do. The Head Captain not to mention Nanao would have my head if I missed worked tomorrow."

Jushiro nods, "Okay, I understand." He forces a smile to his face, "I'm sure it's nothing and I'll be fine."

"I'll come by as soon as I can to see what she said." Jushiro nods again and the two of them turn in for the night.

The next day, the thirteenth captain finds himself sitting on an exam table in Squad Four awaiting Captain Unohana's presence. He nervously drums his fingers on the table just wishing Shunsui were with him.

TBC…


	3. I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NA

I do not own Bleach.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Several minutes pass and Jushiro's nervousness grows as he waits for the fourth captain to enter the exam room. He just couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong with him. One didn't just throw up for almost two weeks and not have something wrong with them. Just when the thirteenth captain thinks he might have a nervous breakdown, the raven haired Squad Four Captain enters the room.

She gives him an apologetic smile, "I'm terribly sorry for making you wait, but half of Squad Eleven are here claiming Captain Zaraki attempted to kill them during training." She looks him up and down and when she doesn't hear any wheezing or coughing a confused expression appears on her face, "Why are you here? You don't sound sick and your reiatsu seems fine."

Jushiro's pale cheeks tint pink as he begins explaining why he's there, "Well, that day I threw up at the budget meeting…it never went away." He scratches the back of his head nervously, "It's weird though because it just happens suddenly and then it's over until the next time. I don't feel sick at all."

She takes all his vital signs while he's explaining his odd illness, but she doesn't notice anything out of the ordinary, "How often do this spells of sickness happen?"

"Two or three times a day…sometimes more, but it usually happens before lunch." He lets out an agitated sigh, "Am I going to be okay?"

She gives him a comforting smile, "I'm sure you'll be fine once we figure out what's making you sick." She places her small hands on his chest, "Could you lay back for me?"

He nods and does as he told still wishing that Shunsui were there with him. She pulls his hospital robe down to reveal his chest and abdomen where she begins pressing his stomach lightly. He tries to be still, but he can't stop his deep, worried breaths from making his abdomen rise and fall along with his chest, "I-if it's bad news, can you tell me when Shunsui can be here?"

She nods, "I know you're nervous, but please, try to be still." She presses into his skin again, but with more pressure this time, "Does that hurt at all?"

"No." He shakes his head and tries to hold his breath to keep from moving, "Is everything okay?"

She looks into his green eyes and he can see the unsure gleam in her eyes, "Do you mind if I connect with your reiatsu?"

"Is something wrong with it?!" He almost sits straight up, but she keeps a firm hand on his chest making him lay back down.

"I just need to take a closer look, but I like to get permission before doing something so personal." She smiles again as she awaits his answer and he slowly nods, "Thank you."

She carefully sends her own reiatsu into his body to gently brush against his own making him shiver slightly from the contact, but he doesn't move. The fourth captain delves deeper and within a few minutes she pulls away leaving his own reiatsu untouched again. When she looks at him again she has a puzzled expression on her face making him question her expression, "What is it? Why do you look like that?"

"I don't know how to tell you this, but…" She pauses as she swallows hard, "There's another reiatsu in there."

His eyes widen and his facial expression mirrors her confusion, "What does that mean? I don't understand."

"What I mean is that there's another soul inside you." When he continues to look perplexed, she lets out a worried sigh, "Maybe I should explain it another way." She helps him sit up and grabs his hand in hers, "I've only ever seen this happen in…pregnant women."

His mouth drops open and his eyes widen to the size of dinner plates, "Are you saying that I'm…that I'm…that I'm…"

"Pregnant? Yes, I am or at least from what I can tell without any of the proper equipment." She holds his hand with hers and rubs the top of his hand with her other hand trying to soothe him.

"How is that possible? I'm a man and Shunsui and I have had sex for years without any protection and this has never happened." He looks as if he's about to cry, but doesn't let the tears fall, "I don't understand."

"Here, feel for yourself." She turns his hand to touch his own bare stomach, "Now, concentrate on your reiatsu, but go deeper than you usually do." She waits for him to respond, "Do you feel it?"

The silent tears finally streak down his cheeks as he nods, "You're right, that's a soul."

She hands him a tissue and waits until he's calmed down a bit before questioning him some more, "Do you have any idea when this could have happened?"

He closes his eyes and tries to think of when the last he and Shunsui had been intimate, "Well, Shunsui and I haven't had sex in the last couple of weeks because of the vomiting and before that we were both really busy with assignments from the Head Captain." He scratches his head as he opens his eyes again, "The last time we were intimate had to be about six weeks ago."

"From the development of the soul, that sounds about right." She opens up a notebook and begins writing things down, "Did anything out of the ordinary happen that day prior to intimacy?"

"There was a Captain's meeting that day." He looks at her before continuing, "You remember because I was coughing terribly that day. When I left the meeting, I talked to…" He suddenly gasps at the sudden memory of what happened, "How could I be so stupid?"

"Fill me in. What did you remember and who did you talk to?"

He takes in a deep breath and slowly lets in back out, "I was talking to Captain Kurotsuchi and he mentioned my coughing sounding worse than usual." He swallows the nervous lump in his throat before continuing, "He said that maybe I should drink some water and he handed me a glass. I drank it and it looked, smelled, and tasted just like water. So I thought it was okay."

He stops speaking, but Unohana beckons him to continue, "Go on, then what happened?"

"Then he told me there had been a terrible cough going around Squad Twelve and he'd made this lozenge that would stop the cough for twenty-four hours." He twists the fabric of the hospital gown in his hands, "He gave me one, but I was skeptical and he could tell. Nemu had come to meet him after the meeting and he made her eat one to prove to me that it was safe." He lets out a pitiful whimper, "I know I shouldn't have taken it, but I did and it really did stop my coughing…in fact, I haven't coughed since that day." He gives her a horrified look, "He experimented on me, didn't he?"

"Let's not jump to conclusions." She hands him his original robes and captain's haori, "You get dressed and I'll send for him. We won't make accusations until we know for sure." He nods and she leaves the room to let him get dressed.

In about a half-hour, Unohana returns with a somber expression on her face, "I spoke with him and you are indeed pregnant from an experimental drug given to you six weeks ago."

His face falls into a frown, "But, how could one little lozenge do all that?"

She lets out a sigh, "This is how it was explained to me, the 'water' contained anti-bodies that went into your bloodstream to prevent your illness from passing on to the offspring in the event that you did become pregnant. It also prevents you from having any major coughing and blood expulsion during pregnancy to prevent trauma to the fetus. The 'lozenge' once melted and ingested forms a temporary womb until the pregnancy is either terminated or carried to term." She takes in a breath before finishing the explanation, "The lozenge also forms a blank egg waiting in the artificial uterus to be fertilized. The effects of the lozenge last for a week and the results are more potent the sooner fertilization takes place after the lozenge is ingested. Does that make sense?"

The thirteenth captain lets out a whimper in response, but nods his head all the same. When he doesn't speak, she continues talking, "Captain Kurotsuchi says he can terminate the pregnancy if that's what you wish to do, but he and I spoke to the Head Captain of your condition and he is leaving the decision of termination or carrying to term up to you and Captain Kyoraku."

The white haired shinigami's eyes widen as he suddenly remembers his lover is involved, "Oh, I forgot about Shunsui! How am I going to tell him this?! He'll never believe me and even if he does…what are we going to do?!"

She gives him a sympathetic look, "I'm afraid that isn't my decision."

The shell-shocked thirteenth captain leaves the Fourth Squad and heads back to his own home with a stack of papers explaining how any of this was possible to show the eighth captain in case he didn't believe it. He finally makes it to his home and flops down into a chair exhausted. Jushiro is still sitting in the chair when Shunsui arrives later that evening.

"Hey, Ju? What did Retsu say was wrong with you?" He notices the conflicted expression on his lover's face and sits down next to him, "What happened?"

"You won't believe me when I tell you." He looks at his brunet lover's face and realizes that Shunsui would no longer be just a lover or a best friend, he would now be the father of their baby, "Promise you'll never leave me, no matter what, Shunsui? Promise me, please."

An extremely worried expression appears on his bearded face, "You know I'd never stop loving you and I will never leave you…ever."

Jushiro balls his hands into fists and takes in a deep breath as he realizes, this is going to be the hardest thing he's ever had to do.

TBC…

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Thanks again for reading and tune in next time to see how Shunsui takes the news that he's gonna be a daddy.


	4. First Family Hug

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NA

I do not own Bleach.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jushiro takes in deep breath as he attempts to work up his courage and tell his best friend that they were going to be parents together, but the way Shunsui kept staring at him, he just couldn't take it and covers his face with his hands. He promised himself he wouldn't cry. He promised himself that he would tell Shunsui as if it were no big deal, but it was a big deal and crying came so easily to him nowadays. Even with his eyes covered by his hands, the warm tears seep out from underneath them and stain his cheeks.

The eighth captain didn't know what do or what to say. He was worried beyond belief and if Jushiro was crying things must be life threatening. He finally places a hand on the heaving shoulders of the thirteenth captain and speaks to him in a soft tone, "Please, tell me what happened? Do you have a tumor or a disease?" He swallows hard not wanting to ask the next question, but he does, "Are you going to…die?"

The crying shinigami shakes his head at all of Shunsui's guesses, "No, it's nothing like that."

"Then what did Retsu find?" He gently pulls his lover's pale hands away from his wet face, "I can't help if I don't know what's wrong."

Jushiro finally wipes his eyes and works up his courage as he takes in another deep breath and slowly lets it back out, "The reason why I've been throwing up is very common in this type of situation. The only problem is, it's never happened to a man before."

The brunet's eyebrows come together in bewilderment, "I don't understand."

The white haired captain swallows the lump forming in his throat before speaking again, "I'm…I'm…pregnant."

Shunsui stares at him in silence and Jushiro waits with baited breath for his friend's response to the news. The eighth captain blinks in shock a few times before letting a smile slip onto his face. This smile confused Jushiro considering he didn't think this was the appropriate situation for smiling. Finally, Shunsui speaks, "Pregnant? Good one, Ju." He chuckles a bit at the sound of it on his tongue, "You really had me going for a minute there. Now, what's the real reason? Stop joking around."

A very hurt expression appears on Jushiro's face as more tears begin to stream down his face, "Are you calling me a liar?!" He stands up abruptly making Shunsui's hand fall from his shoulder, "I hate you so much right now!"

The brunet's eyes widen at his friend's sudden angry and hurt reaction, "But…"

Before he can finish his sentence the thirteenth captain throws a huge stack of papers down on the floor in front of him, "Since you don't believe me then maybe you'll believe Captain Unohana!" He then runs to the restroom and slams the door hard. The next thing Shunsui hears is the lock clicking.

He picks up the papers and sees the neat, lady-like handwriting of the fourth captain. He reads the first few sentences and feels like the biggest asshole in the whole universe. Jushiro was telling the truth, but now the eighth captain is more confused than before. He makes his way to the restroom door and talks to his lover through the door, "I'm sorry, Jushiro. How was I supposed to know this kind of thing was even possible? Please, come out so we can talk about this."

The thirteenth captain doesn't unlock the door, but his trembling voice can be heard through the door, "Are you disgusted by me? I wouldn't blame you if you were."

"I'm not disgusted. I'm just confused." He lets out a frustrated sigh, "I love you no matter what happens and we'll get through this together, but I still don't see how this could happen."

"Just read the sixth page and you'll know everything." The white haired shinigami splashes water onto his red face and he hears the rustle of pages turning.

"I can't believe that bastard would do this to you! This is unforgivable!" He throws the papers down and jiggles the knob on the restroom door, "Please, come out, Ju. We need to talk about this face-to-face." The pink-clad captain finally hears a sniffle and some shuffling before he hears the lock click again and his puffy eyed lover is standing before him. He quickly grips Jushiro into a tight embrace, "I am so sorry for not believing you. I should have been with you when you found out. I can't believe you had to deal with this all alone. Please, forgive me, please."

The thirteenth captain returns the embrace and buries his face in the pink folds of Shunsui's kimono, "It's not your fault. I overreacted and I shouldn't have gotten mad at you."

The two men stand on the threshold of the restroom in silence as they continue to embrace each other. Shunsui eventually breaks the embrace and wipes the tears from his lover's face with his fingers, "Let me make you something to eat."

Jushiro shakes his head, "I'm not hungry."

"Then let's go lay down and we can talk about this." The thirteenth captain nods and Shunsui grabs his shaking hand in his as he leads his friend to the bedroom.

They lay down on the futon and Shunsui brings Jushiro into his arms pressing his trembling body to his. After several long minutes, the white haired captain speaks, "The Head Captain knows and he's making it our choice if we want to terminate or keep it. Kurotsuchi is the only one who knows how to terminate it, but as I said, the Head Captain is leaving it up to us."

"Terminate? You mean killing it?" Jushiro nods and Shunsui frowns, "We can't do that. Sure, this is sudden, but it's not this little soul's fault."

The thirteenth captain lets a smile form on his face for the first time since Shunsui walked in, "I'm glad to hear you say that." He turns his body to be facing Shunsui as he reveals the smile on his face, "I know this sounds weird and I don't even understand it myself, but even though I'm upset and nervous and terminating would solve everything, I just can't do it. I love this baby more than anything even though I just found out about it today. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I allowed termination to happen."

Shunsui returns his smile, "I feel the same way, but I don't have any idea what I'm supposed to do."

A small chuckle escapes the thirteenth captain's lips, "Me either. I've never been more confused in my entire existence."

"We'll get through this together just like everything else we've been through." He leans in and kisses Jushiro on the lips softly and pulls back with a smile, "I'm gonna be a daddy."

"Yes, you are." He grabs Shunsui's hand in his, "Here, you need to feel something." He takes Shunsui's hand and places it on his stomach, "Connect your reiatsu with mine and go deep."

The brunet closes his grey eyes and sends his reiatsu out making it brush tenderly against his lover's reiatsu. He lets it linger there for a moment, enjoying the warm, fuzzy feeling of touching his lover so personally, but eventually he pushes deeper until he feels a jittering, unstable, little ball of barely there reiatsu. He allows his reiatsu to caress the new soul's reiatsu for a moment before pulling back. He opens his eyes as silent tears leak from the corners and trail down his face, "That's the most amazing thing I've ever felt."

Jushiro can't stop the enormous smile that forms on his beaming face, "I thought so too." He throws his arms around Shunsui's neck and nuzzles his face in the crook, "I knew you would make this dim situation seem so much brighter. I love you so much!"

His large hands rub circles on his white haired lover's back and he can't help but let his reiatsu dip back in and encircle his best friend's reiatsu and their baby's reiatsu at the same time. It felt like the first family hug to him and he can feel fresh tears spilling onto the skin of his neck, but he knows the tears belonging to his lover are tears of happiness. Shunsui then feels Jushiro's reiatsu wrap around his and their baby's too and it's the most wonderful feeling he's ever felt.

The thirteenth captain is the first to speak after the family hug ends, "The Head Captain doesn't want us to tell anyone until we just have to. The pregnancy can still miscarry at this early stage. He wants us to wait until we're sure it will be carried to term."

Shunsui nods, "That makes sense."

"Will you come with me tomorrow to Squad Four?" He gives his best friend a hopeful look.

"Sure, but why are you going back so soon?"

"Unohana wants to give me some books and we have to tell her that we decided to keep it." He grabs Shunsui's hand in his and caresses his cheek against the hairy skin of his hand, "Also, Unohana is borrowing a machine from the Living World to look inside me to make sure the baby is developing correctly."

"I most definitely will not miss this visit." They kiss again before Jushiro stands up from the futon.

The thirteenth captain gives Shunsui a pleading look before speaking, "How about you make me that food you were talking about earlier?

"Coming right up, mom." He chuckles at the pink blush on Jushiro's face as he leaves the bedroom and heads to the kitchen.

TBC…


	5. By the Way, Can We Have Sex?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NA

I do not own Bleach.  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next morning, Jushiro is once again jolted out of bed thanks to what he now knew was morning sickness. He rushes to the restroom and violently expels the food Shunsui had made him the night before. Shortly before the next wave of vomiting begins, he feels his lover's warm hands gather the hair swinging in his face to hold it back. He doesn't get to enjoy the feel of Shunsui's hands on the back of his neck for long before he throws up again.

The brunet frowns as he wishes he could make Jushiro's sickness go away, "How much longer is this morning sickness supposed to last?"

The white haired captain slumps down next to the toilet exhausted from the force of his morning sickness, "I don't know. Check those papers from Squad Four."

The eighth captain releases his friend's white strands and hands him a towel to wipe his mouth, "I'll be right back, Ju." Jushiro nods and wipes his mouth as he remains seated on the floor. Shunsui returns within a few seconds holding the large stack of papers, "Okay, it says here, that most cases of morning sickness end around the twelfth week."

The thirteenth captain groans in agony at the answer, "That's six more weeks! I don't think I can do this."

"Yes, you can." He squats down next to his sick lover and pushes a soft piece of snow white hair behind Jushiro's ear, "Just think about how wonderful that little reiatsu felt yesterday and it's going to feel even better the bigger it gets and before you know it, you and me will be able to hold that baby without using reiatsu and it'll all be because you suffered through all this."

Jushiro gives his best friend a weak smile and nods, "I know, but it just seems so hard right now."

"I know, but if you need me to do anything just say so, okay?" The thirteenth captain nods and Shunsui stands and holds out his hand to help his lover up from the restroom floor, "What time do we need to be at Squad Four?"

"Unohana said as soon as I stopped feeling sick to come by. She wasn't very specific." He wipes the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand, "But, I imagine she doesn't want to be waiting all day."

"You should eat something."

The white haired shinigami makes a repulsed face, "Ugh, not right now, Shunsui." He rubs his abdomen absentmindedly at the thought of having to puke all that food up later, "I don't know why it's called morning sickness when it happens any time of the day."

"Because 'any time of the day sickness' doesn't have as nice of ring to it as morning sickness." He smiles at the not so amused look on Jushiro's face, "Well, if you're not gonna eat then let's get a shower and head to Squad Four."

The thirteenth captain nods as his brunet lover begins helping him undress. The cloth of his pajamas slides down the skin of his arms and eventually falls to the restroom floor until soon he's standing nude in front Shunsui. The eighth captain's eyes rake up and down his lover's pale body and he smiles as he places his large hand on his best friend's abdomen. Jushiro eventually places his hands on top of Shunsui's hands and returns the smile, "That area will be a lot bigger before you know it, Shun."

"I'm anxious to see it." He removes his hand and undresses as well, "You've always been so skinny. It might be nice to see a little weight on you."

He grabs Jushiro's hand and guides him to the shower. The brunet enters first and helps his lover into the shower next. He turns the water on and the two of them wait for the spray to warm up before stepping under it. Shunsui stands behind Jushiro and rubs the thirteenth captain's shoulders with his sword calloused hands and eventually his mouth finds its way to the pale neck of his white haired lover. Jushiro shivers at the contact and leans into the touch as Shunsui's lips travel down his neck and sprinkle kisses on his shoulder. The eight captain's hands slide from Jushiro's shoulders to his chest where he lazily circles his lover's nipples with his fingertips.

The kisses travel back up his shoulder and neck until they reach the shell of his ear. One of Shunsui's hands leave his nipple as it comes up to cup Jushiro's face where he turns the thirteenth captain's head and he connects his eager lips to the lips of his best friend. Jushiro can feel the hardness of Shunsui's erection pressing into his back as the brunet's hand leaves his nipple to slide down his stomach to a more intimate portion of his body.

Unfortunately, before his hand can work any magic, Jushiro breaks the kiss and pulls away from his touch, "We shouldn't…I want to, but maybe we should wait and see if it's okay. I wouldn't want to hurt the baby."

Shunsui clears his throat and nods, "Of course, I'm sorry." He reaches for the cold water knob and adds a little bit of cold water to the heated shower.

"You don't have to apologize. There are a lot of things we'll have to ask about…that included." He grabs the soap and begins lathering it against his body.

Shunsui begins his shower as well before speaking again, "You know, if I had listened to you six weeks ago we wouldn't be in this situation."

"What do you mean?" He turns around and gives Shunsui a confused look.

He lathers some shampoo into his wavy hair as he answers, "The night you got pregnant was the same night you said you were too tired, but you reconsidered and we had sex anyway."

Jushiro laughs, "And, if I hadn't have been an idiot and ingested something given to me by that experiment hungry madman, we wouldn't be in this situation either." He gives his lover a smile, "But, it's too late for 'what ifs' now. Now, we have to be responsible adults."

"Well, I suppose it's about time I became a responsible adult." He washes the shampoo from his hair and the two shinigami finish up their shower and redress, "You sure you don't want anything to eat?"

The repulsed look returns to the thirteenth captain's features at the thought of eating, "No, not now. I still feel a bit queasy."

"Okay, but just remember, you're eating for two now so as soon as you feel better you should eat something." Jushiro nods as he takes Shunsui's hand in his, interlacing their fingers.

The two captains leave Jushiro's home and make their way to Squad Four at a leisurely pace. Neither of them wanted Jushiro to hurl during flash step and walk slowly hand-in-hand through the streets of the Seireitei until they reach their destination. The white haired Soul Reaper looks at his lover with an anxious smile on his face as they stand outside of Squad Four, "Are you ready to actually see our little blob of reiatsu?"

He returns the smile and squeezes Jushiro's hand slightly, "I can't wait."

They walk into the building and are immediately ushered into an exam room. Jushiro sits on the exam table and Shunsui stands beside him. The room contains a large machine that Jushiro has never seen before and he assumes it must be the machine that Captain Unohana borrowed from the Living World. The two of them don't have to wait very long before Captain Unohana enters the room, but the tension rises when another person enters the room close behind her.

Shunsui jumps up and pins the twelfth captain to the wall, "I can't believe the nerve you have! You must have one huge set of balls on you to think that you can just do as you please to anyone!"

Jushiro and Unohana both gasp and try to calm the eighth captain down. Captain Unohana places a tentative hand on Shunsui's shoulder as Jushiro calls out to him, "Shunsui, stop! This is not the place!"

The brunet only tightens his grip on the scientist's throat as he continues to speak harshly to his fellow captain, "I don't want you anywhere near Jushiro or our baby! I don't want you to touch him or even look at him!"

He lifts Captain Kurotsuchi further up the wall making his feet leave the floor when finally Unohana tightens her own grip on Shunsui's shoulder, "Captain Kyoraku, please. Violence in the exam rooms is not allowed."

He finally releases his hold on the deceitful scientist and Mayuri coughs from the firm grip of Shunsui's hands around his throat, "I'm the one who gave you that baby and it's my experiment."

The eighth captain's facial expression shows his extreme anger at Kurotsuchi's words, "My child will not be research material for you! You voided your rights to observe when you tricked Jushiro into this!" He turns to Unohana, "I don't want him in here. I don't want him anywhere near Jushiro or my baby."

Kurotsuchi is about to object when Captain Unohana raises her hand in front of his face to stop him, "Enough of this fighting, gentlemen. I'm afraid you must leave, Captain Kurotsuchi."

"But, I…"

His words are once again cut short as she continues speaking, "I do believe the Head Captain informed you that anything Captain Ukitake or Captain Kyoraku ordered of you had to be done."

A very irritated expression is plastered to Kurotsuchi's face, "I'm the only one who knows how to fix anything if something goes wrong. I should be able to know what's going on!"

Captain Unohana shifts her gaze to Shunsui, "He's right, Captain Kyoraku."

"Then his lieutenant can observe and you can send him reports and photos, but I don't want him around unless it's absolutely necessary." He looks at his lover still sitting on the exam table and frowns, "I'm sorry, Ju. I know we wouldn't have this baby without him, but I just can't stand the thought of him touching you."

Jushiro nods and Captain Unohana takes over once more, "Send for Lieutenant Kurotsuchi and I will keep you informed, Captain Kurotsuchi."

The freakish captain mumbles under his breath about people being too sensitive as he leaves the exam room. Shortly after, Nemu enters the room and the exam begins. The fourth captain brings the large machine closer to the exam table and begins explaining the process, "This is called an ultrasound machine. This will help me keep track of the baby's physical development and not just the spiritual development." She pulls the ultrasound wand out and continues her explanation, "There won't be much to see this time, but I'm sure the two of you will be happy with what we do see."

She lifts the thirteenth captain's hospital gown to reveal his still flat abdomen and she then pulls out a bottle of gel, "This is going to be a bit cold." She squirts the gel onto his stomach and places the wand on his skin spreading the gel along his flesh. The two men look at the monitor waiting to see something. Finally, Unohana's expression of concentration changes to smile, "Here we go." She points to the screen, "Do you see that little flickering shadow?"

The two of them nod and she continues, "That is your baby's heart. I'm afraid that's the most exciting thing you'll see during this visit, but perhaps if we turn the sound on, the two of you will be a bit more impressed."

She turns a dial on the machine and soon the exam room is filled with the sound of thumping. Jushiro holds his hand out to Shunsui and the brunet takes it as they stare fixated at the monitor. Jushiro is the first to speak, "It's already beating so hard to only be six weeks old."

"That's why the reiatsu was flickering so much last night." Shunsui smiles at his own revelation, "The heart was beating so strongly that we could feel it."

Unohana allows a smile of her own to grace her features, "I know it's not much to look at, but I can print out a picture if you want it."

The two men speak at once, "Yes!"

She quickly prints the picture of the little heart and wipes the gel off Jushiro's stomach. He pulls his gown back down over his skin and sits up. She smiles at them again, "You seem in much better spirits today, Captain Ukitake. I'm glad."

"I guess it just took the right person to make me see the good in all of this." He looks at his lover and smiles before looking back at Unohana, "Oh, by the way, is it alright if we have sex."

Shunsui's eyes widen at Jushiro's blatant question, but Unohana acts as if it's nothing out of the ordinary, "Of course, as long as it isn't too rough." She reaches behind her and grabs a stack of books off the counter, "These will help with most questions, but feel free to ask me anything."

Shunsui takes the books and the two of them are dismissed until next time. The two of them hold hands on the way back just as they did on the way there and Shunsui is almost positive he's never seen a happier look on his lover's face.

TBC…


	6. Just a Little Bump

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NA

I do not own Bleach.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
The night after the exam finds the lover's together on Jushiro's futon entwined in love making. After not having had sex in six weeks, the two Soul Reapers' took Captain Unohana's permission to have sex to heart. The thirteenth captain's white hair is splayed out around his head on the pillow as his lover thrusts in and out of his body and soft moans can be heard throughout the bedroom. Their bodies are covered in a light sheen of sweat and the thirteenth captain's legs are resting over Shunsui's broad shoulders making his thrusts penetrate deeper into his lover.

He stares into Jushiro's green eyes and smiles at how beautiful his lover is and can't even imagine how his life would be if he'd never met this man, "I…ah…love you…you're so…nngh…beautiful."

Jushiro closes his eyes and shudders at the combination of Shunsui's words and the feeling of him grinding directly into his sweet spot, "I-I…love…ah hah…you too."

Shunsui eventually picks up his pace and abuses his lover's sweet spot with every snap of his hips causing the white haired shinigami to let out the most delicious sounds he'd ever heard, "Ju, I…I'm so…ah…close!"

Me too…mmm…d-don't stop!" Jushiro can feel his orgasm building fast and he soon spills his seed without ever having his cock touched due to how sensitive his body felt. He lets out a cry of Shunsui's name as he raises his hips to slip his lover's cock even deeper inside him as he rides out his orgasm.

With a few more rough (but not too rough) thrusts into the convulsing heat of his lover, the brunet empties his climax into the spent body beneath him with a loud, pleasure-filled groan of completion. The thirteenth captain's legs fall from Shunsui's shoulders and land limply on the futon as the bearded shinigami removes himself from Jushiro's body.

Shunsui lays beside his best friend on the futon and pulls the thirteenth captain's trembling body close to his in a snug embrace. The two of them are quiet for a long time as they recover from the effects of their love making, but the eighth captain is the one to break the silence, "What are you thinking about, Ju?"

"About how tired and stressed I am, but also how happy I feel." He lets out a soft chuckle, "I just feel a bit odd is all."

"How so?" He shifts their position so that he can look at his lover's face when he talks, "I know the obvious answer, but what else is making you feel odd?"

Jushiro lets out a little sigh before answering Shunsui's inquiry, "I was so opposed to this pregnancy when I first found out about it and I was so lost in my thinking. I didn't know what to do and it just seemed as if my world was crashing down around me." He swallows loudly before continuing, "Then whenever you said you would stay with me and help me through it, I felt like a window of hope had opened and that my situation wasn't as bleak as I had first imagined." He gives Shunsui a smile, "It's odd how no matter what I'm going through you always manage to make me see the positive side."

Shunsui returns the smile and twirls a strand of Jushiro's white hair around his index finger, "I won't lie and say I wasn't shocked and confused at first, but then I thought about all the other things in life we've shared and what better representation of our love can there be than a child made because we love each other."

"Can I confess something to you?" He waits for Shunsui's response and when the brunet nods, he continues speaking, "I've always wanted a family." He smiles a pure, happy smile before going on, "I big one with three or four kids."

Shunsui's eyes widen. "Three or four, huh?"

"Oh, yes…a big family." He nods thinking about it, "I grew up in a big family and that's just what seems right to me. Anyway, I never looked for a woman to marry because I knew if I married then I'd want us to have children." He pauses his story as a frown comes to his face, "But, I didn't want to have children for fear of my illness being passed down to them. I met you and the problem was solved, but I never thought when I met you all those centuries ago that we would be having a child together." He laughs as he stares into Shunsui's grey eyes, "I most definitely never thought that I would be the one to carry my own child and bringing it into the world when I was younger."

Shunsui places his hand underneath Jushiro's chin and presses his lips softly against his lover's lips and when he pulls away he's smiling, "I had already decided long ago, that if I couldn't have children with you then I didn't want any."

"You know, even though Mayuri deserved what happened today, he really is a smart man." He sees the flames of anger rise on Shunsui's face at his words, "Just hear me out, Shun. He thought about my illness and made sure the baby wouldn't contract it and he made my coughing stop for the whole nine months. He didn't have to do that, but he did." When he notices Shunsui's anger melt away he speaks again, "I still think it was wrong for him to deceive me, but if you really think about it, he knew you and I wouldn't have the heart to terminate the baby and he also knew the Head Captain would give us more leeway than any other shinigami in Seireitei."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." He crosses his arms over his chest, "Mayuri is smart alright, but I still don't like the way he went about all this." The eighth captain lets out a thoughtful sigh and gives Jushiro an inquisitive look, "If he'd asked you to do it and told you all the risks beforehand would you have said yes?"

The thirteenth captain licks his lips before answering, "…Yes, but only if you were okay with it and I'd have to discuss it with the Head Captain, but I would have said yes." He gives Shunsui a look mixed with determination and shame, "Is that weird and wrong?"

The eighth captain shakes his head before wrapping his arms around his naked lover, "No, it's not wrong to want a family and I love you for your honesty. I have always loved that about you."

The bedroom becomes silent again and before long, Shunsui discovers his best friend is fast asleep. He gently lays his lover back onto the futon and snuggles close to his body as he soon drifts off as well.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Six Weeks Later

Jushiro is now twelve weeks along and is standing in front of a full length mirror in his bedroom. He'd begged Shunsui to buy him one so that he could tell how big he looked with his clothes on, but the thirteenth captain mostly just stared at himself half naked and complained to his lover about what he saw. This particular day, Jushiro is standing in front of the mirror in only his underwear as Shunsui sits on the futon watching him.

"Ju, we're gonna be late for the Captain's meeting if you don't hurry up and get dressed." He crosses his arms and lets out an impatient sigh.

The thirteenth captain frowns, "But, just look at how fat I am. Surely, the other captains will notice." He lets out a frustrated sound, "I can't go, Shunsui. I'll just have to pretend I'm sick."

The brunet lets out an aggravated sigh and falls backward onto the futon, "I promise you, it isn't that noticeable. You just have an itty bitty pooch. I don't even know it's there unless I touch it. When you get your clothes on no one will suspect anything."

Jushiro turns away from Shunsui and makes sure the eighth captain can't see his face reflected in the mirror as tears begin to well up in his eyes, "Then…then why do I feel like I weigh a thousand pounds?!" He sits down on the edge of the futon and covers his face with his hands, "I'm fat and hot and sweaty and I'm so tired of crying about everything!"

The thirteenth captain lets out a loud sob and Shunsui sits up wondering how he'd managed to make Jushiro cry this time, "No, you're not fat. You just have a cute little bump that only me, you, and Unohana have even touched."

"You're just saying that because you have to!" He falls down onto the futon and buries his face in the sheets of the futon as he cries harder, "I'm only going to get fatter and cry more until you can't even stand to be around me."

The brunet places a cautious hand on his hysterical lover's back and slowly rubs circles on the bare skin there, "You look perfect. This is how someone three months pregnant is supposed to look and if you gain weight that's a good thing. It just means that our baby is growing." He pushes Jushiro's long strands away from his skin and kisses the soft flesh on his back, "I love you and I will never not want to be around you. I think you look beautiful."

Jushiro finally turns his red, tear streaked face toward his lover, "R-really? You don't think I look disgusting and you really don't think anyone will notice at the Captain's meeting?"

"You're far from disgusting and I assure you, no one will notice your little bump." He wipes the tears from the thirteenth captain's cheeks, "I told you weeks ago, that I would always be honest with you about your weight gain and I'm being honest now."

The white haired shinigami wipes his nose with his hand and nods, "Okay, I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable. I know I'm over emotional about everything." He sniffles a little as a small smile finally lifts the corners of his lips, "I'll get dressed now."

Shunsui only nods in agreement not wanting to set his emotionally unstable lover off again. He lets out a relieved sigh as soon as Jushiro disappears into the restroom, "What did I even say this time to make him so emotional?"

The thirteenth captain finally emerges from the restroom fully dressed with a smile on his face as if nothing dramatic had even happened only moments ago, "I'm ready and you're right, no one can even tell and I'm sorry for overreacting."

The pink-clad captain stands up and loops his arm through Jushiro's, "Think nothing of it, Ju. We all need to let off a little steam once in a while."

The two captains finally leave Jushiro's home and make their way to the Captain's meeting. Just as Shunsui thought, no one suspected a thing even if the thirteenth captain did tie his hair up and use his 'list of topics to discuss' paper as a homemade fan when he started sweating for no reason at all. Shunsui also noticed that Mayuri didn't dare look at either of them during the whole meeting.

TBC…


	7. I Never Thought I'd Say This

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NA

I do not own Bleach.

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At sixteen weeks (four months), the thirteenth captain still wasn't big enough with his clothes on to tell anyone about the accidental pregnancy yet and around everyone else things seemed the same as always for the captain's of Squad Eight and Thirteen. Behind closed doors was another thing entirely and Shunsui didn't think he could handle it until their baby was born.

He knew it wasn't Jushiro's fault, but the white haired shinigami cried about something every day and it was getting harder and harder to console him. He was always hot which was good in a way and bad in a way. The good thing was, the thirteenth captain walked around almost naked when they were alone and slept naked. The bad thing, was that he constantly complained about looking too fat and in bed, the brunet felt as if he were lying next to a furnace.

Sometimes after all his squad duty work was over, he went to the bar and had few drinks just to get a break and told his lover that he'd had to work late. He hated lying to the mother of his unborn child not to mention his best friend, but if he didn't get away from it for a few minutes, he was afraid he would explode from the stress. He never let Jushiro know he felt this way, because he knew his lover had his own problems to deal with and he didn't need to throw his own problems onto the pile.

One night after a particularly rough day of nonstop consoling, the eighth captain fell asleep on his lover's futon after much moving around and shifting to keep from getting too hot next to his own personal furnace. He felt like he'd only been asleep for a few minutes, when he feels himself being shaken awake. He ignores it as long as he can, but the shaking is persistent and he finally turns over to face Jushiro, "What's the matter?! Is something wrong?! Are you okay?!"

"I'm fine." His cheeks are a light pink color as he continues to speak, "I'm just really…horny. Can we have sex?"

Shunsui rubs his eyes and squints at his best friend, "What time is it?"

"I don't know." He shrugs, "About four, maybe."

The eighth captain's grey eyes widen, "In the morning?!" He rolls onto his back and lets out a sigh, "I'm not even hard or anything."

"Well, I can fix that, Shun." He gives his bearded lover a pleading pout, "Please, I'm so horny. I've never been this horny in my whole existence."

Shunsui nods, "Okay, I guess being woken up to have sex is a pretty good thing to be woken up for."

Jushiro smiles as he quickly strips the eighth captain of his pajama pants and grabs his flaccid cock in his pale hand. Shunsui shivers when he feels the rough hands of his lover grip him in such a sensual way. He then feels those hands sliding up and down his cock until he's half hard. He lets out a few content sighs and then he feels his lover's warm, wet mouth lowers around the head of his cock and slide down the shaft. Jushiro bobs his head up and down a few times and teases the slit with his tongue until the brunet is fully hard and moaning out his white haired lover's name, "Jushiro, that feels…r-really good!"

The thirteenth captain sucks on the head of Shunsui's cock a little longer before raising his head and smiling at friend, "I'd say you're ready now, huh?" Shunsui nods and swallows hard at the lustful expression on Jushiro's face, "You ready?"

"Wait, what about preparing you?" A confused look springs to his bearded face, "You know, we have to be extra safe nowadays."

Jushiro climbs on top of Shunsui's body and straddles his hips, "I did all that myself before I woke you up." He laughs at the shocked look on his lover's face, "I told you I was extremely horny, didn't I?"

He gives the brunet a sexy wink as he lifts his hips and reaches behind him, grabbing the eighth captain's cock to help guide it into his opening. He lowers himself down slowly onto Shunsui's thick member making them both sigh in pleasure as his slickened walls slide along the sensitive skin of his erection. Finally, the white haired man is fully sheathed around his lover's pulsing cock and he closes his green eyes as his body adjusts to the large intrusion resting deep inside him.

Shunsui grabs his lover's hips in his warm hands and squeezes the skin there gently, "You feel so good around me, Ju."

When the thirteenth captain opens his green eyes, he places his trembling hands onto his partner's hairy chest for balance as he lifts his ass up, dragging his heated hole up the thick shaft until only the head of the brunet's cock is still inside him. He tenses his fingers into the flesh on Shunsui's chest before dropping down and engulfing the eighth captain's cock in tightness again. He raises his hips on his own and drops back down with the help of gravity a few times before Shunsui tightens his grip on his friend's hips and helps him to slide up and down his length at a faster pace.

"I-I…needed this…ah…s-so badly, Shunsui!" Jushiro begins panting at his rigorous pace of up and down as he furiously rides Shunsui's cock, "Feels…so good!"

The brunet lifts his hips from the futon to plunge his cock even deeper into his lover making the thirteenth captain cry out in ecstasy, "You're so…beautiful, Ju. G-go…ah…hah…faster! Ride me…faster!"

Jushiro speeds up his movements as best as he can and finally manages to land in just the right spot for Shunsui's cock to slam into his sweet spot, "Yes! That's…it! I-I can't…ah…last much longer…it's…nghh…too much!"

"Do it, Ju…c-cum…mmm, you can…cum." He continues to help his friend rise up and down as he keeps on raising his hips to thrust into the shuddering hole around his hard member.

Finally, with a few more well placed landings, Jushiro cums onto his lover's chest and lets out a blissful cry as he feels Shunsui's climax rush into his spasming entrance. The thirteenth captain falls boneless onto Shunsui's chest as the eighth captain's arousal softens and slips out of his lover's body, "I love you, Shunsui."

The brunet chuckles and wraps his arms around his sweaty furnace, "I love you too, but why did you all of sudden get horny beyond belief in the middle of the night."

"I don't know." He wiggles out of Shunsui's grip and rolls to lay beside him on the futon, "I just woke up really hard and I wanted you so badly."

A smile forms on Shunsui's face, "Are you satisfied?"

"For now." He returns the smile and stands up. He then disappears into the restroom.

The next morning, Shunsui awakens to see that Jushiro is already awake and standing in front of that damned mirror. The bearded captain was preparing himself for an 'I'm fat' meltdown, but when the thirteenth captain turns to face him, he has a smile on his face, "Oh, you're awake."

"Yeah, you feeling okay this morning, Ju?" He sits up and stretches as he waits for his lover's response.

The half naked shinigami makes his way back to the futon and sits down at Shunsui's feet, "I'm feeling pretty good, but do you think that maybe we could have sex again." He looks down at the futon as the pink tint fills his cheeks again.

Shunsui always thought it was cute that Jushiro still got embarrassed to ask him for sex after all these years, but right now the eighth captain was shocked by the request, "I don't mind, but it's only been about six hours since we last did it."

"I know, but I'm so hot for you right now, Shun." He gives the brunet the same pouting look as the night before, "Please?"

He nods as he throws the cover off his body, "Okay, but we'll have to do it in the shower because as soon as we're done I have to get to my own squad." The white haired man agrees and the two men enter the restroom where the love making begins…again.

When the two emerge from the shower, Jushiro throws on a robe to cover himself as the eighth captain begins dressing in his Captain's uniform to begin another day in Squad Eight. Once he's fully dressed, he heads for the door, but Jushiro stops him by placing a hand on his shoulder, "Shunsui, aren't you going to eat breakfast?"

"I don't have time, Ju, but I'm sure Nanao will run out and get me something." He leans down and kisses his slightly shorter lover on the cheek, "But, make sure you eat and get plenty of rest and don't do too much walking around, okay?"

The white haired Soul Reaper nods, "I know, Shunsui. You say the same thing every day." Shunsui turns back toward the door, but Jushiro grips his sleeve, "Shunsui?"

"What is it, Ju?" When the brunet turns around again, he notices the pink tint on Jushiro's cheeks again and he starts to get nervous that he'll have to pacify his lover with sex again and be late for squad duty.

"Do you think that you could come over during your lunch break and we could eat together?" His expression is a hopeful one as he looks at the pink-clad captain.

Shunsui nods, "Sure, Ju." He opens the door, but turns back to give Jushiro another smile, "I'll see you then."

The eighth captain miraculously makes it to his squad in time and greets his lieutenant before attempting to work, but as always, he manages to procrastinate most of the morning. Just as he gets started on some paperwork, he looks at the clock and frowns. He'd hardly gotten any work done, but it was already time to meet up with Jushiro for lunch, "Um, Nanao?"

She turns from her own work and gives him her attention, "Yes, captain?"

"I promised Ju I'd come by for lunch, but I promise I'll be back as soon as we're done eating." He gives her a guilty yet goofy smile, "Do you think you can hold the fort down until I get back?"

She gives him a look of slight annoyance, but she nods all the same, "I always do, captain."

When Shunsui makes it to his lover's home, he walks in expecting Jushiro to be sitting at the table with their meal set out waiting on him to arrive. Instead, he doesn't see his lover anywhere in the living room, kitchen, or the dining room. He knows there are only two places left that the thirteenth captain could be; the restroom or the bedroom and the door to the restroom is hanging wide open with no sign of the white haired shinigami. Shunsui makes his way to the bedroom and as soon as he breaches the threshold, he's pushed against the wall and his lips are covered by his lover's hungry lips.

The kiss lasts a long time and their lips separate only when they need air, but before the eighth captain can say anything, Jushiro begins stripping him of his clothes, "I've been waiting for you, Shunsui."

"I can tell, but I thought we were gonna eat lunch?" He feels his pants being pulled down and the thirteenth captain's hand on his now naked cock.

"We are, but I want to do this first." He pumps the brunet's cock a few times to get it standing at full attention before releasing his lover's member and slinging him to the futon, "I want you and I can't wait until after we eat." He joins his lover on the futon where round three of love making begins.

Afterward, the two captains are lying together on the futon as their bodily functions return to normal. Shunsui is the first to speak, "What's gotten into you? We haven't had this much sex since we were in Academy."

"I don't know." His cheeks are a bright red at having to discuss his frequent sex drive, "I'm just really turned on today for some reason. I can't get enough sex and whenever I see you, I just want to jump you."

"Obviously." He wipes the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand and sits up, "I only have fifteen more minutes of my lunch break before I have to go back." He looks at Jushiro, "Are we gonna eat?"

"Well…" His cheeks turn pink again as he looks away from Shunsui's face, "I thought that maybe we could do it one more time before you go back."

The eighth captain gives him a shocked expression, "Are you…serious?"

"We don't have to, but I thought that maybe this time you could do me from behind like you're always wanting to do." He shoots the brunet a very lusty look as he bites his bottom lip.

Shunsui tries to look away from the sexy look on his lover's face, but when he thinks about pounding his friend from behind and he continues to look at that face, he just can't say no, "Okay, but then I have to go back to my squad." Jushiro nods as he turns around and gets on all fours.

After several days of nonstop sex, the brunet makes his way very cautiously around his lover and even begins hiding from him. He's sitting in his office at Squad Eight underneath his desk when he hears the door open. He holds his breath, but the intruder appears around the desk and touches his knee. The eighth captain flinches as he squeezes his eyes shut, "Don't touch me!"

When he opens his eyes, he sees the very perplexed face of Nanao staring back at him, "Captain, are you alright?"

He lets out a relieved sigh, "Oh, it's just you."

"Who did you think would be? Didn't you sense my reiatsu?" She gives him a worried look.

He emerges out from under the desk and straightens his clothes, "To be honest, I was so preoccupied with my thoughts that I didn't notice who you were until you found me."

"Do you need to talk about anything, captain?" She moves out of his way to allow him room to sit at the desk, "You seem very jumpy and tired. Is everything with you and Captain Ukitake okay?"

"Of course." He sits down and with a nervous look on his face, "Why would you ask that?"

She walks to stand in front of the desk as she chooses her words wisely before speaking, "I just noticed the two of you going to Squad Four a lot and when you go eat lunch with him, you come back all frazzled and jumpy. I just thought that maybe something might be wrong."

He drums his fingers on the desk not quite sure how to proceed with the conversation he and Nanao are having. He lets out a loud sigh and gestures to one of the seats in front of his desk, "Have a seat, Nanao. I do need to talk about something."

The second seat does as she's told and sits down laying her notebook down to rest in her lap, "Is Captain Ukitake alright?"

"Nanao, I don't really know how to begin this talk." He laces his fingers and places his hands on the desktop, "You're not gonna believe me and technically, I'm not supposed to tell anyone about this just yet." He looks into her eyes and lets out another sigh, "If you'd rather not be involved then I understand."

She pushes her glasses up the bridge of her nose before speaking, "I know how to keep my mouth shut, captain. I'm here for you if you need to talk, you know that."

He nods taking that as a yes, "Jushiro is…sixteen weeks pregnant." Before she can question the odd confession, he continues, "I know it sounds crazy and laughable, but it's true." He quickly explains the whole story, including Mayuri with the water and the lozenge and waits for her to say something.

She looks down at her lap and back up at her captain's face before she finds her voice again, "That's…amazing." She wets her lips with her tongue before continuing, "Are you and Captain Ukitake okay with this?"

"We were unsettled when it first happened, but we've learned to accept it. We're actually pretty happy now." He gives her a smile, but it's mixed with stress.

She catches the subtle hints of anxiety in his smile and his voice, "But, that's not what has you so anxious, is it?"

"No, it isn't." He closes his eyes and rubs his temples with his fingertips for a moment before looking at her again, "The pregnancy is progressing perfectly fine, but the emotions and hormones are making me a nervous wreck. He cries about everything because I inadvertently insult him and when I get that particular crisis under control there's something else." He lets out a defeated sigh, "And now, he wants to have sex all the time. I mean ALL the time. In the last few days, I've had more sex than I had in all of last year. I just can't do it anymore! I'm not a machine!"

She clears her throat and shakes her head to rid it of all the sexual images plaguing her mind, "Have you talked to him about this?"

"No! He would think I didn't want to because he was fat or something." He bangs his head on the desk with a groan, "I don't know what to do. I never thought I'd say this, but I am so tired of having sex."

"I think you two should talk." She holds up a hand to halt his arguing, "He may get upset because of the hormones, but deep down he will understand. He's your best friend and the two of you are having a child together. If the two of you can't talk about important things now then how are you ever going to discuss important things about your child when it gets here?"

"I just feel like I shouldn't complain because he's having to deal with so much." A pained expression is on his bearded face, "He threw up so much in the first three months and then he cried every day and he's gaining weight and I shouldn't complain."

"I think it's better to complain now rather than resent him later." She stands up and places her notebook under her arm, "I've never been in this situation, Captain, but talking is always the best answer. He loves you and he wants you to be happy too." She turns to walk out the door, but looks over her shoulder before she leaves the room, "Remember that."

That night after their second round of nightly sex, Jushiro begins to talk, "I was thinking that the next time we could…" The eighth captain zones out and his lover's voice fades away and when he tunes back in the thirteenth captain is talking about something completely different, "I think I want some chips."

He gives Jushiro a puzzled look at his words, "What the hell is a chip?"

"Chips are those little round, salty, crispy things from the Living World." He smiles at Shunsui's confusion, "Don't you remember Toshiro bringing us some of them?"

He nods in understanding, "Right, I remember now."

"Anyway, I was thinking that you could get me the regular flavor…no, the cheesy ones or maybe the pickle flavored ones…no, no the sour cream and onion." He takes in a deep breath before continuing, "Just get me every flavor, but not barbeque because they smell terrible. The barbeque makes me feel nauseated and…" He noticed the glazed over expression on the brunet's face and immediately feels horrible, "I'm being overbearing, aren't I?"

Shunsui immediately comes out of his daze and looks at Jushiro, "No, I'm just tired."

"You know that I can always tell when you're lying." He sits up and gives Shunsui a guilty look, "You should have told me that you didn't want to have sex and you don't have to get those chips."

The eighth captain gulps loudly, "I'm sorry, Ju. I just can't have sex anymore and I know you want to but I can't. I just can't even get it up any more."

Even though Jushiro knows it's irrational and he doesn't want to, fresh tears form in his eyes and silently fall down his cheeks, "Is it because you don't find me attractive anymore because I'm so fat and sweaty and disgusting?"

"What? No!" He sits up as well with wide eyes, "It's just that I'm not as young as I used to be and I can't have sex like a kid anymore. I think you're beautiful and I want to have sex with you 24/7, but physically I just can't." He blushes a bit with his next words, "I actually think my junk is starting to chafe."

A soft chuckle escapes the thirteenth captain's mouth at his lover's words, "I'm sorry." He wipes his wet face, "You should have just told me."

"I know, but you're going through so much and if having sex with me makes you happy then I want to do whatever it takes to make you happy." He strokes his lover's pale cheek with his hand and the thirteenth captain leans into the touch, "And, if you want all those chip things then I'll get you as many as you want."

Jushiro smiles at the brunet's honesty, "I didn't get this way by myself. I know it's stressful for you too. You don't have to feel ashamed because you're tired of having sex or because you're fed up with my crying and demands." He reaches his arms around Shunsui and hugs him tightly, "I want you to be happy too because I love you."

Shunsui hugs his lover back and lets a sigh of relief pass his lips, "You don't know how much I've needed to hear that, Ju."

They release the embrace and the eighth captain stands up from the futon to begin redressing. Jushiro gives him a bewildered look, "Why are you getting dressed? It's the middle of the night."

The brunet pulls his pants on and looks around the room for his robe, "I'm going to put in a request to Kisuke in the Living World to send me those chips you want."

"Shunsui, you don't…"

Shunsui cuts Jushiro's words short with his own words, "I'm getting you those chips so don't argue." He eventually has all of his clothes on and turns to look at the white haired shinigami again, "No barbeque, right?"

A loving smile forms on the thirteenth captain's lips, "Right and could you get me some candy too…preferably chocolate…and some marshmallows?"

"Sure, Ju." He returns the smile, "Now, get some rest and I'll be back soon."

TBC…


	8. Touch It, You Know You Want To

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NA

I do not own Bleach.

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At eighteen weeks, the two shinigami had learned to cope with a few situations better than before. They were both more open and honest with each other and understanding of the other's needs. Everything wasn't perfect by any means, but the whole pregnancy thing was getting just a bit easier to say the least. Jushiro was constantly munching on chips and when he was done with a particular bag, he had to eat some chocolate to get the salty taste out of his mouth and then eat another bag of chips to get the sweet taste out. It was a vicious cycle, but Shunsui didn't dare say anything and neither did the clueless member's of Squad Thirteen.

On this particular night, after the thirteenth captain had finished off his last bag of chips for the night, the two men decide to go to bed. Shunsui fell asleep almost instantly due to his working harder than usual to get everything in his squad under control before the baby came, but Jushiro was a little restless. He lay beside his lover and watched him breath peacefully in and out. He was glad that Shunsui was happier now than he was a few weeks ago.

The white haired shinigami smiles at how comfortable his friend looked sleeping so deeply. He wanted to just watch his lover sleep all night, but suddenly he feels a little flinch in his abdomen. He lies very still hoping for it to happen again and after several seconds of waiting the flinch turns into a pretty hard kick. He sits up excitedly and begins shaking Shunsui roughly, "Shunsui! Wake up!"

The bearded man cracks a sleepy eye open and groans, "What is it? I can't have sex right now. I'm too tired."

"That's not what I want. Just wake up!" When Shunsui doesn't wake up as fast as the thirteenth captain wanted, Jushiro grabs the brunet's hand in his and places it on his bare abdomen, "Do you feel that?"

When Shunsui feels the vigorous movement, he sits up and presses his hand more firmly against his lover's stomach, "Is that our baby?" Jushiro nods and smiles proudly, "Wow, it's pretty strong. Does it hurt?"

"Not really, it just feels weird." His smile widens as the kicking continues with only a few little pauses between kicks, "I was starting to get worried because the books say movement should start between the sixteenth and twenty-second week and when it didn't start at sixteen, I was disappointed, but this is perfect. It's not too early or too late and that means our baby is right on track."

Shunsui returns the smile, "That's wonderful." He leans in and kisses Jushiro on the cheek. He keeps his hand pressed to his best friend's stomach and never wants to pull away from the unusual but wonderful feeling of their baby moving, "It's probably moving so much from all that chocolate you ate today."

"I had to get the salty taste out of my mouth." He gives Shunsui a pouting expression, but the tone of his voice reveals that he's not really offended by Shunsui's comment.

The two shinigami are quiet and still for a long time just feeling the movements of their now active baby, but eventually the baby tires itself out and stops kicking. Shunsui removes his hand from his lover's abdomen, but remains sitting up as he looks at Jushiro, "I need to tell you something and I don't want you to be offended because it's a good thing in this situation."

The thirteenth captain looks at Shunsui's face, "What is it, Shunsui?"

The eighth captain takes in a deep breath and slowly lets it back out before speaking, "I don't think you should leave the house too much until we see Retsu again."

"I thought you might say that." He looks down at his swollen abdomen and gives it a bittersweet smile, "It's noticeable through my clothes isn't it?"

"Yeah, not a lot, but just enough for people to ask questions." He grabs his lover's hand in his and squeezes it lightly, "When do we go back anyway?"

"At five months." He lays back down on the futon and lets out a sigh, "That's in a couple of weeks."

The brunet lies down as well and brings Jushiro into his arms, "I'm pretty sure she's going to tell us to start letting people know, but I think we should wait and see for sure at your next appointment." Shunsui begins to feel wet tears against his chest and hugs his friend tighter to him, "What's the matter, Ju?"

The eighth captain had learned through all of these mood swings just to ask what was the matter instead of trying to fix it and the thirteenth captain eventually answers his question, "I'm very happy that our baby is growing and moving because that's means it's normal and healthy, but the thought of telling everyone makes me more than a little nervous." The white haired shinigami takes a moment to gather his thoughts before continuing the conversation, "What if they don't accept it? What if they think it's weird and repulsive? I can deal with it if it's just me they don't accept, but what if our child is discriminated against because of the way it was brought into this world?"

Shunsui rubs Jushiro's back with his hand before trying to calm his lover's worries, "That's not going to happen."

"How do you know that, Shunsui?"

"This wasn't your fault but you had the nerve to step up and take responsibility for it anyway. That means something around here. Not to mention, you're a respected captain and everyone loves you." He moves his hand from Jushiro's back to the back of his white head and strokes his hair, "The SWA will act like it's the most wonderful thing in existence when they find out and some people won't care one way or the other and of course there will be some negative people, but don't even think about them." He breathes in the scent of his lover as he continues to reassure him, "But, even if no one approved you'd still have me and I'll give you and our baby anything the two of you could possibly want. Don't worry about what other people think because as long as our baby is healthy and we love it and each other then that's all that matters."

Jushiro sniffles a bit, but a smile finally forms on his face, "You're right, Shunsui. I'm glad I have you to talk some sense into this pregnant brain of mine." He lets out a soft chuckle and relaxes into Shunsui's embrace.

The brunet captain waits until he feels Jushiro's tumultuous reiatsu settle down before he speaks up again, "Can I make a confession, Ju?"

The white haired man's body stiffens a bit in the eighth captain's embrace with worry at what he might confess, "I suppose."

"I told someone about the baby." He waits for Jushiro to yell or cry, but when nothing happens, he continues, "I know I wasn't supposed to, but I just had to."

"Who did you tell, Shunsui?" He shifts his body a bit to be able to look at the brunet's face, "You know it was supposed to be between us until Captain Unohana said otherwise."

He notices the stern expression on Jushiro's face and swallows nervously before answering, "I told Nanao, but she hasn't told anyone and I just needed to talk to someone that wasn't involved. It really helped to be able to discuss some things with her and she's been helping me get stuff ready so that I'll have more time to spend with you and the baby when it gets here." The thirteenth captain begins laughing at Shunsui's rapid fire responses making the brunet's worried face melt into a look of confusion, "You're not mad?"

"Not if you told Nanao. She was probably wondering what was wrong with you until you told her." He laughs some more, "That poor girl." He laughs a bit more before getting himself under control, "Nanao will probably be a big help in preparing you for it all actually."

Shunsui lets a small smile grace his features at Jushiro's good humor to his confession, "Yeah, she's already helped me get tons of paperwork done and helped me make a schedule so that the squad gets enough attention while I'm trying to take care of you and the baby too."

"Actually, I told someone too, but it's more accurate to say they figured it out."

The eighth captain gives him a curious look, "How could someone possibly figure that out?"

A low chuckle escapes Jushiro's lips, "He's a smart boy and he came over to visit me the other day. He noticed the books Unohana gave me and I was wearing the least amount of clothes as I could get away with and he saw my stomach sticking out. He also remembered me throwing up at the captain's meeting and noticed our constant Squad Four visits and how Mayuri avoids us most of the time now."

A knowing smile spreads across Shunsui's face, "Byakuya?"

"He figured it out and I wasn't going to lie to him." The thirteenth captain rolls onto his back and stretches his body, "He's always been very observant and he isn't a blabber mouth so I thought it was a safe person to guess. He also said that I was a brave man to go through with it. He's a good kid."

Shunsui smiles at how relaxed his lover seems as opposed to just a little earlier, "You see, Nanao and Byakuya are okay with it and so is Retsu. I don't think you have anything to worry about, Ju."

"I hope you're right, Shunsui." He closes his green eyes and lets out a relaxed sigh, "I hope you're right."

At their next Squad Four appointment, Jushiro is twenty weeks pregnant (five months) and the baby decided to be very active at night leaving the thirteenth captain to sleep a lot during the day. This left him restless at night while Shunsui was asleep and very grumpy during the day if he didn't get at least one nap. Jushiro was lying on the exam table almost asleep when the Captain of Squad Four entered the exam room.

Unohana smiles as she closes the door behind her, "I didn't mean to wake you, Captain Ukitake. You seemed to be sleeping so peacefully."

He opens his eyes and sits up a bit with a pink blush on his cheeks, "I didn't mean to fall asleep, but I'm not getting much sleep at night."

Shunsui notices her worried expression and decides to clear any confusion for the raven haired woman, "The baby moves around a lot a night and he sleeps during the day mostly."

"Oh, when did that start?" An excited smile forms on her face at the thought of the little soul moving around so actively.

Jushiro answers her question as she brings the ultrasound machine closer to the exam table, "About two weeks ago and I thought it was strong then, but now I feel like a punching bag." He smiles as he unconsciously touches his abdomen, "The baby is pretty strong."

She pulls the ultrasound wand out and the gel as her smile widens, "I can imagine the baby is pretty strong with the parents it has." She lifts his hospital gown and places the gel onto his abdomen just like before and spreads the gel along his skin with the wand until she finds the right position to observe the baby.

The two men watch the monitor and see the little baby resting very still after the wild night of pummeling it partook in only a few hours ago. Shunsui's eyes widen by how much more it has grown in just the few weeks since they'd visited. He lets out an amused chuckle, "No, wonder the baby is so strong, it's getting pretty big in there."

Unohana moves the wand a little more and smiles, "Your baby seems to be doing just fine and it's growing just perfectly. Unless you're experiencing any pain, I think everything is just right."

He shakes his head, "No, I feel just the way the books say I should feel."

"Good." She moves the wand just a tiny bit and smiles at them, "It seems the baby isn't very shy and is in the perfect position to determine the gender. Do the two of you want to know?"

Jushiro tears his eyes away from the monitor and looks at Shunsui, "Do you want to know, Shunsui?"

"Only if you do, but I think it would be more exciting if we didn't know." He grabs his lover's hand and rubs the skin with his thumb, "But, it's up to you, Ju."

He turns back to the picture on the monitor and shakes his head, "I want to be surprised."

Unohana nods in understanding as she presses a button to print the picture for them. She wipes the gel from Jushiro's stomach and pulls his gown back down. She hands the picture to them and sits down across from the two men, "I think it's about time we discussed telling everyone about this little one."

The two of them nod and Shunsui speaks, "We thought you might say that and we've talked about it."

"That's good to know." She picks up her chart and writes a few things down before speaking again, "I think the captains should be told and they can inform their own squad." The two men nod and she stands up, "If that's all then I'll see you in a month and good luck." They all agree and the fourth captain leaves the exam room.

The fourth, eighth, twelfth, and thirteenth captains tell their respective squads the news first and the news is then spread to the remaining squad captains. Once the news is out to everyone, Jushiro sits down in the living room having a nervous breakdown.

Shunsui notices the uneasy expression on his lover's face and knows he shouldn't ask because it will make all hell break loose, but he didn't like to see Jushiro looking so down, "Ju, why do you look so upset? I thought we talked about this a few weeks ago and you were okay with everyone knowing."

"That's not what I'm upset about." He runs a nervous hand through his white hair, "The fact that we're going to be parents is very real now. It's not just contained to me, you, Unohana, and Kurotsuchi. Everybody else will know and we have to be responsible parents."

Shunsui sits down beside the thirteenth captain with a puzzled look on his bearded face, "We were going to have to do that anyway. I don't understand."

"I just realized that we don't have anything that we need." He stands up and begins pacing the room, "We don't have any clothes or diapers and there's nowhere for the baby to sleep!" He begins pacing faster and chewing on his bottom lip, "And let's not forget that I'm a man! I don't have any milk glands! What is our baby going to eat?!" He falls down into the chair he started out in and lays boneless across it, "We aren't prepared at all! What are we going to do! I'm freaking out and I don't know how to stop! I don't know how to stop!"

Shunsui finally grabs Jushiro's shoulders and shakes him a few times to get his attention, "Jushiro, stop! We will get all of those things before the baby gets here. I know you're worried because I am too, but we will work everything out. I promise you that."

"But…" The thirteenth captain lets out a worried sigh as his lips tremble, "How do you know that, Shunsui?"

The brunet moves his hands from Jushiro's shoulders to slide down his arms and take his pale hands in his own hairy ones, "When the SWA finds out, they will probably throw you the biggest baby shower in the whole universe and there will be clothes and diapers and all that stuff." He takes in a breath before finishing, "And, I heard from Nanao that Squad Eight and Squad Thirteen are pooling their money together to get us a baby bed." He squeezes the delicate hands in his before addressing Jushiro's last concern, "And, there are women in the Living World that don't breast feed and they manage to feed their babies."

The thirteenth captain breathes in and out deeply a few times before finally calming down, "I'm sorry, Shunsui, of course you're right. I'm just so wound up and there's still some part of me that doesn't quite believe this is real." He gives Shunsui an apologetic smile, "I just need you to help keep me sane until we have this baby."

"Are you okay now, Ju?" The white haired shinigami nods and Shunsui kisses him gently on the lips, "I love you. Don't forget that."

"I know." He smiles, "I love you too."

The two captains' barley have time to breathe after the meltdown, when the door opens and a frantic Rangiku Matsumoto bursts into the house without even knocking, "Oh, my gosh! I am so excited!" The busty blonde lieutenant makes her way to the chair that the thirteenth captain is sitting in and immediately kneels down beside him and Shunsui, "This is the most exciting news I've heard in almost forever!" Once again without permission, she reaches out and places her hand on the unsuspecting Jushiro's stomach and smiles at him as if this were natural, "Wow, you're already this big?! How many months are you? When is it due? Is it a girl or a boy? Do you have any names picked out?"

Before either Shunsui or Jushiro can answer her quick fire questions, her commanding officer walks into the room, "Matsumoto! Did you even knock and just what do you think you're doing touching your superior like that?!"

All three sets of eyes turn in his direction, but Jushiro is the first one to speak, "It's quite alright…a little unexpected, but a lot of things happen unexpectedly."

Toshiro squints his eyes angrily at his lieutenant, "You had better be glad that Captain Ukitake is a generous and understanding man, Matsumoto."

She rolls her eyes at her captain's response, "No one is as uptight as you, captain." She continues to rub the thirteenth captain's belly as if it were the most normal thing in the world to be doing.

Once Shunsui is over the shock of her just bursting into the house, he remembers her questions, "To answer your questions, Rangiku, Jushiro is five months which means the baby is due in about four months and no we don't know what gender it is and we haven't picked names."

She's all smiles as she stares lovingly at the swelled abdomen of the white haired captain, "I was wondering why Captain Kyoraku hadn't been coming to the bar as often and now I know it's because of this little one!" She turns to look at her captain, "Captain, come over here and feel for yourself! It's not soft like you'd think it would be."

Captain Hitsugaya crosses his arms over his chest as he makes his way to the other three, but doesn't attempt to touch the elder captain, "I am not going to touch his stomach. It's not natural to touch another man in that way." He looks at the two men in the room and blushes slightly, "No offense."

They nod in understanding, but Rangiku pouts at his statement, "You're no fun, captain." She quickly grabs his wrist and jerks him forward forcing his hand onto the protruding belly of the thirteenth captain. As soon as the tenth captain's hand is flat on the rounded stomach, the baby gives a little kick making Toshiro and Rangiku flinch, "See that, captain! The baby likes you!"

He snatches his hand back and turns away from her, "That's ridiculous, Matsumoto. Babies move whenever they feel like it!"

Rangiku finally removes her hand and stands up, "Oh, I get it, captain." She smiles slyly, "You're upset because the new baby will get all of Captain Ukitake's candy and toys, aren't you?"

Before the red faced tenth captain can defend himself, Jushiro stands up with a frown on his face, "Is that true?! I have enough candy and toys for the both of you."

Toshiro turns to face them again with a furious expression on his face, "I do not want candy and toys! Let's go, Matsumoto!"

He begins stomping toward the door with his lieutenant close behind, but she calls out her goodbyes over her shoulder, "Congratulations you two and good luck! Oh, the SWA will be sure to throw you one hell of a baby shower. Bye!"

The two men speak in unison at the tenth squad's departure, "Thanks."

Shunsui smiles when the two of them are alone again, "See, I told you no one would be upset and now just like I said, the SWA is gonna give you a shower."

Throughout the day, many more visitors showed up to wish them congratulations and ask questions about the strange occurrence, but the last visitor to show up is the Squad Eleven's lieutenant (all by herself), "Hey, Ukki! Hey, Shun Shun! I heard you was getting really fat and that it wasn't just fat cause it was a baby in there."

She walks over him and examines his belly with her eyes, but she never reaches out to touch it. Jushiro gives her a warm smile before speaking to her, "Do you have any questions about it, Lieutenant Kusajishi?"

"Just one." She finally reaches a tentative finger out and cautiously pokes his stomach before pulling away, "How in the heck is that baby gonna get out of there?! Don't you have a penis?!"

Shunsui falls into a fit of laughter as Jushiro's face turns bright red, but the thirteenth captain answers her through his embarrassment, "Well, it won't come out that way. I'll have to have surgery and they'll cut me open and take the baby out."

Her eyes widen for moment before she regains her voice, "Are you gonna die, Ukki?!"

"No, I won't die. I'll just be a little sore and they'll sew me back up." He sure was hoping he hadn't scared her, but then he remembered who the girl's 'father' was and he stopped worrying.

"Will there be a lot of blood?" He nods and she smiles, "Hmm, that's pretty cool." She finally places her hand on his abdomen completely before bending over and placing her ear flat on his belly, "I don't hear no baby in here. It must be asleep."

He gives her a smile and Shunsui finally speaks after his fit of laughter earlier, "If you ever hear the baby talking through there I'm gonna be really impressed."

She shrugs as she lifts herself from his stomach, "I'm going to have to have a long talk with Pachinko Head and Yun Yun. They told me they couldn't have a baby for me to play with cause they were both boys, but this proves them wrong." The two men just smile at her statement and she reaches into her robes, "Oh, I almost forgot. Kenny said to give you this note." She hands a roughly folded note to Jushiro, "He said he didn't wanna come because the thought of a guy being pregnant scared him to death."

Jushiro opens the note to see a word of congratulation on the inside and he smiles as he passes it to Shunsui, "Well, tell Captain Zaraki thank you."

"I will and I'll be back to see this baby later on." She waves goodbye as she makes her way to the door, "See ya!"

The two shinigami are left alone once again and all is quiet until Shunsui begins laughing again, "Oh, man! I wish I could see the look on Ikkaku's face when Yachiru tells him that he and Yumichika should have a baby!"

"You're terrible, Shunsui." The white haired captain shakes his head in disappointment at the brunet's sense of humor.

Needless, to say, the two men were still nervous, but just knowing they had their fellow shinigami on their side made things a lot easier.

TBC…


	9. Akward Moments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NA

I do not own Bleach.

 

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It didn't take long for the news of Jushiro's pregnancy to spread throughout the Seireitei and it eventually spread to the occupants involved with Soul Society that were in the Living World. Some of the Living World occupants already knew, such as Isshin Kurosaki considering he was the one that helped them get an ultrasound machine…simply because he was the only one that could talk Ryuken into letting them borrow it. Urahara was the next to know because he was the supplier of the numerous bags of chips and chocolate the thirteenth captain craved so much. Rukia ended up telling Ichigo and company because Jushiro was her commanding officer after all.

Since everyone knew, Jushiro couldn't go anywhere without someone wanting to ask questions and/or touch his baby bump. The attention was exciting and welcomed at first, but as the week went on, the white haired man was afraid to leave the house and longed for the days when only Shunsui and Unohana touched his stomach.

"I can't take it anymore, Shunsui." He flops down onto the futon tiredly after a long day of shopping with the brunet, "I'm so tired of being touched."

The eighth captain places the bag on the counter before sitting down beside his lover on the futon, "I know, Ju, but this is new and exciting to everyone. They just can't stop themselves from touching your bump. It's just sticking out there being all touchable."

Jushiro lets out a sigh as he kicks his sandals off onto the floor, "Well, my feet are swollen too, but you don't see anyone volunteering to rub them do you?"

Shunsui lets out a soft laugh as he pulls his lover's feet into his lap, "I don't know about everyone else, but I'm not a mind reader and no one has mentioned needing a foot rub until now." He begins rubbing the thirteenth captain's left foot with his large hands.

Jushiro lets out a content sigh from the feeling of Shunsui's hands rubbing his foot, "I feel like a big water balloon. Everything about me is swollen and squishy and as if that wasn't enough, I have to pee every five minutes." He groans and covers his eyes with his arm, "I'm tired of peeing."

"If it makes you feel better, I love every part of you even if it is squishy." He applies more pressure to the foot he's massaging causing the thirteenth captain to let out another sound of satisfaction, "I hate to inform you that I can't do anything about your frequent urination."

"I feel like all I do is complain lately." He lets out a loud breath, "I wouldn't blame you if you got sick of being around me."

The brunet switches to his lover's right foot and proceeds to give it the same treatment as the left, "Your complaining is all warranted and I wouldn't leave you for complaining since you didn't get this squishy all by yourself."

"Stop calling me squishy." He pouts at his lover, "Only I'm allowed to call myself that."

Shunsui nods, "Yes, master." Jushiro pouts again and Shunsui laughs at his friend's expression as he continues rubbing his foot. The two of them are quiet for a long time just enjoying the silence of each other's company without curious, touchy visitors around. Finally, the eighth captain breaks the silence as he finishes the foot rub and lays down beside Jushiro, "Is it okay if I touch you?"

Jushiro snuggles against Shunsui's warm body and nods, "If you touch me in the right place you can."

The eighth captain smiles as he props his upper body with his elbows and leans in to place his lips tenderly against his white haired lover's lips. The kiss is sweet and chaste when it begins, but Jushiro begins kissing back eagerly and it soon turns very heated. When they break the kiss, Shunsui gives his lover a hopeful look, "Do you want to?"

The brunet actually wanted to have sex this time. After the frequent sex stopped and the thirteenth captain started swelling and the baby started kicking they hadn't been intimate in about month and he was really starting to miss it again. Jushiro nods as he begins sliding Shunsui's pink kimono off his shoulders, "Just be careful, okay?"

"Of course." He nods his agreement as he sits up and shrugs the kimono the rest of the way off his body and begins undressing his lover. He slowly removes his lover's robes as if he's unwrapping a present and kisses every piece of pale skin that comes into view. He places kisses along his chest and down to his rounded stomach, but stops when he sees an uncomfortable expression on Jushiro's face, "What's the matter, Ju?"

"Do you still think I'm attractive?" He bites his bottom lip with worry, "And, be honest."

Shunsui looks into his best friend's green eyes and lets out a sigh, "You don't look the same as before, but I still think you look wonderful." He grabs Jushiro's hand and lowers it down to his still clothed erection and groans a bit at the feel of the thirteenth captain's touch, "I wouldn't be this hard if I didn't think you were attractive. I'm glad that our baby is growing and that you're growing the way you're supposed to." He begins untying Jushiro's pants which didn't take long considering they were tied as loosely as possible, "Do you believe me?"

Jushiro nods as he begins massaging the eighth captain's erection through his pants making Shunsui close his eyes and moan out his pleasure. The brunet allows the touches over his clothes for a moment, but eventually grasps Jushiro's pale hand in his own to stop his movements in order to take his own clothes off. Once the two shinigami are completely undressed, Shunsui rests his body between his lover's legs and looks down at the white haired man in confusion.

Jushiro notices his confusion and blushes when he realizes why the eighth captain has that particular look on his face, "Is anything wrong, Shunsui."

"I don't quite know how to…put it in." His own face turns pink as he looks down at the baby bump in his way, "I'm afraid to put your legs over my shoulder. What if I hurt your back or bend the baby weird or something?"

To the brunet's surprise, the thirteenth captain begins laughing at the embarrassed expression on Shunsui's face, "I hadn't thought about it until now, but you're right. I don't think my back could stand being bent that way."

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Jushiro's laughing wasn't making it any easier to figure it out.

The white haired Soul Reaper finally regains his composure and tries to help with the current situation, "We'll just have to do it in a different position."

Shunsui thinks for a moment about all the different sexual positions in his mind before speaking, "You could be on top."

"I don't think so." The thirteenth captain's face shows a look of pain at the prospect of lifting himself, "I'm too heavy and it's so tiring to be on top on a good day much less being pregnant."

The eighth captain lets out a frustrated sigh at their unusual predicament and finally suggests something else, "You're not gonna like my next idea, but I could do you from behind." He gives his lover an apologetic yet hopeful smile, "I know you don't like it, but that's all I can think of."

"Fine, but just until the baby is born." Shunsui moves from between Jushiro's legs as the white haired captain sits up and positions himself on his hands and knees, "It's not that it doesn't feel good, it's just that I like to be able to see your face."

"I know, Ju, but it's either this or nothing." He reaches for the lube resting on the nightstand and puts a bit of it onto his fingers. He uses his unlubed hand to grip one of his lover's cheeks and pulls the flesh apart before circling his friend's entrance with his slickened index finger. He repeats the same movement a few times making Jushiro's hole twitch in anticipation.

"Shunsui, please…don't tease me." He slides his knees across the futon to spread his legs a bit more, "I'm so turned on, please."

The brunet smiles at the desperate sound in his friend's voice as he slips his index finger into the snug hole of his lover and begins sliding it in and out at a moderate pace. When he's certain Jushiro can take it, he adds a second finger and squeezes the thirteenth captain's pale ass cheek with his other hand, "Mmm, Ju, you're so tight since we haven't made love in a month. I can't wait to be inside you."

As the eighth captain pumps his two fingers in and out, he scissors his fingers against the resistance of Jushiro's tight muscles and the white haired man pushes back against the fingers inside him, "Do it, Shunsui…I'm ready."

Shunsui doesn't argue as he removes his fingers before grabbing the lube again and spreading it onto his heated length. He grits his teeth at the friction that his own hand causes, but finally grabs Jushiro's cheeks to spread them once again before slipping the engorged head of his cock into his lover's winking opening, "Hah, you feel so good." He grips Jushiro's ass harder as he slides his length in to the hilt before stopping to allow the thirteenth captain a chance to accommodate his girth.

Jushiro lets out a few excited whimpers as his walls clench involuntarily around the hard flesh inside him trying to get used to it being there before they continue, "M-move, Shunsui."

The brunet pulls his cock out almost all the way before burying his length deep inside his lover again. He lets out several sounds of enjoyment as he continues to plunge in and out of the thirteenth captain's hot, squeezing entrance. Sweat begins to form on his brow as he watches his cock disappear and reappear inside his lover's sinfully wonderful body, "Does that…ah…feel good, Ju?!"

"M-more, Shunsui…don't stop…ah…please, d-don't stop!" Jushiro pushes his hips back to meet Shunsui's thrusts and cries out every time the head of the brunet's cock nails his sweet spot, "Faster…I-I can't…nngh, I can't last much…longer!"

The eighth captain speeds up his movements and grabs his lover's hips in a bruising grip as he rams himself deep inside the trembling hole of the white haired shinigami, "I'm…gonna cum!" Shunsui reaches underneath Jushiro's body and clenches his hand around his lover's leaking cock and he strokes the rigid member in time with his frantic thrusts, "Jushiro, I…ah!"

Shunsui cums with a blissful groan and when Jushiro feels his insides being splashed with his lover's essence and the calloused hand still pulling on his cock, he erupts his climax onto his friend's hand and onto the sheets of the futon as his inner walls pull Shunsui's still spilling cock further inside his body.

The bearded captain pulls his now softening cock from his lover's body as the two of them collapse onto the futon in a sweaty, panting heap. The thirteenth captain is the first to speak after their love making, "I thought it was supposed to be hard to have sex after the baby was born, not before."

"From what I hear, the two of us will be so tired we won't wanna have sex." He rolls onto his back and interlaces their fingers together, "I never imagined it being so awkward just having sex."

Jushiro smiles, "We managed though. Just like we've managed everything else." He lets out an irritated groan, "Apparently, we interrupted the baby's nap and now it's bouncing on my bladder." He frowns, "Now, I have to pee."

Shunsui lets go of his lover's hand and sits up, "I'll help you to the restroom. We need to clean up anyway."

The thirteenth captain sighs, "I'm tired of being pregnant. I just want the baby now and no more fat me not being able to do anything."

"I wish that were possible, Ju, but since it isn't we'll just have to make due until the baby does arrive." He stands up and helps Jushiro to the restroom where they clean themselves up and return to the bedroom.

"Shunsui, can we take a nap?" The thirteenth captain lays down before Shunsui even answers his question, "I want us to take a nap together. We never take naps together anymore. Please, it's your day off and I want us to take a nap."

The brunet smiles at Jushiro's pleading and nods as he lays down beside him, "I would love to take a nap with you. I'm so tired from trying to get all my work done before the baby comes." He pulls Jushiro close to him and wraps his arms around his lover's warm body.

"I love you, Shunsui and I'm sorry that I've been so bossy and grumpy lately." He closes his eyes and snuggles deeper into Shunsui's embrace.

The eighth captain sends his reiatsu out to brush against his lover's and smiles, "I love you too and if I were pregnant I'd probably be bossy and grumpy too. I think you deserve to be that way."

He feels Jushiro's reiatsu connect with his own and their combined reiatsu caresses the ever growing reiatsu of their baby as all three of them drift off to sleep. The two shinigami enjoy these moments with their little bundle of reiatsu until the day finally arrives when they'll be able to hold their baby in their arms.

TBC…


	10. I'm Not Telling You Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NA

I do not own Bleach.

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At twenty-four weeks (six months), it didn't take Jushiro long to get tired doing anything. This meant walking, standing around for long periods of time, sitting for long periods of time, and his sex life with Shunsui had come to a very slow crawl and they barely had sex at all. Also, it was kind of hard to have sex when the bottom partner needed to pee right in the middle of everything. Jushiro slept most of the time and his paperwork was piling up on his desk.

The thirteenth captain decided he would start on it when Shunsui left for his own squad duties and he had every intention of keeping his word, but unfortunately he dropped his pen on the floor where it promptly rolled underneath the desk. The white haired shinigami did his best to retrieve the pen, but he just couldn't bend very well and he knew if he got down on the floor, he'd never get back up. He finally gives up and makes his way to the bedroom where he flops down onto the futon to take a well needed nap.

When the eighth captain comes over during his lunch break, he notices his lover sound asleep on the futon. He carefully gets onto the futon with him and lays down to whisper in Jushiro's ear, "Finished with your work already, love?"

Jushiro slowly opens his eyes and blinks several times before he's fully awake and able to respond, "Shunsui? What time is it?"

"Lunch time." He smiles as he pushes a piece of white hair behind his lover's ear, "That's why I'm here, but it's funny. When I walked in a saw a huge stack of papers on your desk and I could have sworn you said you were gonna work on them today."

The thirteenth captain lets out an irritated sigh and frowns, "I was going to work on them, but I have a legitimate reason for not doing them."

"Which is?" He gives his friend a curious look awaiting his explanation.

Jushiro sits up and stretches before beginning his story, "I was sitting at my desk and when I picked up my pen, it slipped out of my hand and landed right on the floor. Well, I tried to pick it up, but with this stomach of mine, I just couldn't do it. So I figured the next best thing was to take a nap."

"You mean to tell me that you didn't have another pen lying around here?" He shoots his lover a skeptical look.

He gives the brunet an accusatory look, "I did have another pen, but someone claimed they needed one so many times and took it back to Squad Eight that I ran out and I only had just the one."

"Oh, yeah…sorry." He reaches out and caresses his lover's baby bump to greet his little baby with his reiatsu before speaking again, "Why didn't you call someone to help you pick it up? I bet Kiyone and Sentaro would have given their life to be the one to pick that pen up."

The thirteenth captain's face twists into a look of annoyance at Shunsui's statement, "Not those two, they argue about everything!"

"You're just now realizing that?" He lets out a soft chuckle, "Didn't you notice that when you made them your third seats?"

"I did, but it never bothered me until I got pregnant." He sighs woefully, "Now, I'm ashamed to say that I just want to strangle them both and hide their bodies."

Shunsui leans in and gives Jushiro a soft kiss on the lips before pulling back and smiling, "I see." He stands up and helps his lover off the futon as well, "I'll help you with the paperwork and get you all caught up. I owe you anyway for all those times you helped me with my paperwork."

"But, what about your own work?" He gives the eighth captain a confused look, "Don't you have to go back to your squad after lunch?"

"No." He shakes his head, "Nanao told me to take the rest of the day and spend it with you."

"Oh, that was nice of her." He sits down at his desk as Shunsui retrieve the illusive pen.

He hands the pen to Jushiro and pulls another 'borrowed' pen from his kimono, "Yeah, but I think she was just trying to get rid of me to be able to plan the baby shower without me being in the way." He sits down beside Jushiro and continues talking, "You know that the shower is tomorrow, right?"

"What time?" He begins writing on one of the pages as he and Shunsui converse.

The bearded shinigami thinks for a moment trying to remember when his lieutenant told them to be there, "Eleven."

"In the morning?!" A look of panic fills his features at Shunsui's words.

The brunet looks up from his own paper with an odd expression on his face, "Yeah, who ever heard of having a baby shower at eleven p.m.?"

"That's so early! You know I'm slow nowadays and I'm so sore in the morning and the baby kicks all night!" He has a pouty expression on his face to go along with his whining voice as he tries to make Shunsui feel sorry for him.

The eighth captain shakes his head in astonishment, "I can't believe you, Ju. The SWA have been working on this shower for weeks and they are so excited about it. You should be happy that our fellow shinigami care enough about us to throw us this shower, but no…you're complaining." He shakes his head again and gives Jushiro a reprimanding look, "You should be ashamed of yourself."

"But…" The expression remains on Shunsui's face and the white haired man lets out a sigh, "Fine, I'll go and I'm glad they want to do this for us, but I'll be slow about it and if I'm late they'll get over it." Shunsui chuckles at his lover's line of reasoning and begins filling out the paperwork on Jushiro's desk.

The next morning, Shunsui is awake and preparing breakfast waiting for his grumpy lover to wake up and stumble into the room, but after Shunsui finishes breakfast and sets it out on a plate, Jushiro still isn't awake. He lets out a sigh and enters the bedroom to see the thirteenth captain sleeping soundly on the futon and snoring slightly. He hated to wake up his friend because he knew it had taken Jushiro several hours to get to sleep, but he was not going to let him miss the shower.

He walks over to the futon and pulls the cover away from his lover's body and watches Jushiro curl his body up as best he can from the draft at the loss of cover, "Wake up, Ju. You gotta get dressed because the shower is in an hour." When the white haired shinigami doesn't move, Shunsui lets out a sigh, "Jushiro, I'm serious. Get outta this futon or I'll drag you out myself."

The thirteenth captain finally opens his eyes and reaches for the missing cover, but Shunsui pulls it farther from his grasp, "No! Get up now. We have to eat breakfast and you're drag assing is gonna make it get cold."

A pained expression appears on Jushiro's face when he realizes he won't be getting his cover back, "But, Shunsui…just five more minutes."

"We don't have five minutes. Get out of that futon this instant." He begins walking toward Jushiro's side of the futon, but he's stopped when his lover sits up.

"Okay, okay." He rubs his eyes, "Just don't force me out of the futon. I'll do it." When Shunsui relaxes his posture a bit, the thirteenth captain rebelliously lays back down, "Just a little more. My back hurts."

The brunet takes in a deep breath and slowly lets it back out, "I am not gonna tell you again. Get out of that futon…NOW!"

When the white haired Soul Reaper just ignores his friend's orders, the eighth captain walks to the futon and lifts Jushiro out by picking him up in arms, "Shunsui! Stop it! Put me down!"

"I warned you and you didn't listen." He begins carrying his heavier than usual lover to the dining area, but is quickly stopped by Jushiro's pleading.

"Wait, Shunsui! I really have to pee." The thirteenth captain wiggles around uncontrollably in Shunsui's arms, "Please, Shunsui, I need to you the restroom."

The eighth captain lets out a frustrated sigh, "Fine, but after that you'd better come in here and eat."

Jushiro nods and Shunsui puts the thirteenth captain's feet on the floor. The white haired shinigami promptly makes his way to the restroom where he shuts and locks the door. The eighth captain leaves the room and heads back to the dining room to eat his own breakfast. After about fifteen minutes, Shunsui begins wondering what's taking his lover so long to use the restroom. Shunsui makes his way to the restroom door and knocks, "Ju, are you okay in there?"

He hears water splashing around and knows Jushiro decided to take a bath, "I'm fine. I'll be out in a few minutes."

"Were you sleeping in there?" He presses his mouth as close to the door crack as possible, "Tell the truth."

The pale captain doesn't answer right away and when he finally answers, the eighth captain knows he's not telling the truth, "No, why would I sleep in the bathtub?"

Shunsui decides not to press the issue as he backs away from the door, "Well, hurry up. We only have thirty minutes to get ready. If you don't come out soon I'm gonna drag you out naked or not."

"I'm getting out now. Don't rush me! I'm pregnant!"

The brunet lets out a quiet sigh at the statement he hears on a daily basis. He'd be glad when Jushiro wasn't pregnant anymore so the thirteenth captain wouldn't have that excuse anymore for the things he didn't want to do. When Jushiro finally emerges from the bathroom and sits down at the table, he takes one bite of his breakfast and frowns. Shunsui notices the frown and questions it, "What's the matter? You don't find that food appealing anymore or something?"

"It's cold." The pout appears on his face again as he picks at his breakfast.

Shunsui grits his teeth and balls his hands into fists under the table, "It wouldn't be cold if you had gotten up when I told you to and if you hadn't lounged in the tub for so long."

"You're being mean, Shunsui." A few tears well up in his eyes as he shoves his plate away from him, "My back was hurting! I'm pregnant!"

The tears finally fall from his eyes and the brunet swallows his first response to Jushiro's words and quickly changes what he was going to say, "I'm sorry, Ju. There will be food at the party and you can eat then. Can you wait that long?" The thirteenth captain nods and Shunsui forces a smile to his face, "Good, I'm gonna take a quick shower and while I'm doing that you can be getting dressed and then we'll leave, okay?"

"Okay, Shunsui." He stands up from the table and enters his bedroom to begin getting dressed as Shunsui enters the restroom.

When the two men finally make it to the shower, they're fifteen minutes late and Shunsui can't believe they weren't later than that. The two of them are seated at the front of the room and just from looking around it seems as if most everyone was there even if some of them did look less excited than others. As Jushiro looks around, he sees all the members of the SWA which was expected considering they were hosting the baby shower. He also noticed that even though Kenpachi wasn't there, his third and fifth seat were there giving off angry expressions directed toward their lieutenant. She had no doubt asked them why they hadn't had a baby for her to play with which would explain the angry looks. Rukia and Renji were sitting together as were Shuhei and Izuru and of course Nanao was there bossing the others around.

Every captain minus Kenpachi, Mayuri and for some reason, Byakuya were there including the Head Captain and he surprisingly looked happy about being there. No one from the Living World was there due simply to the chaos it would cause trying to accumulate that many Hell Butterflies for so many people to go through the Dangai and back. They all sent gifts by throughout the week and they were wrapped beautifully and piled up with all the others. There was also a huge cake made with a collaborative effort of all the people who had been to the Living World and eaten one.

The shower started with cake because Jushiro and Yachiru insisted they needed a piece right away. After the cake was passed out, the gift giving began and the two soon to be parents got plenty of everything they needed and a lot of things they didn't know they needed or even knew how to use. As Shunsui expected, they got a baby bed from the Eighth and Thirteenth Squads as well as enough clothes and diapers for a small country worth of babies. They received a set of baby monitors from the Living World that had a monitor on it making it possible to see the baby as well as hear it and a camera with a note taped to it. The note was from Urahara saying, 'The camera is disposable and when you send the camera back I'll send you a new one with your newly developed pictures.' The Head Captain was the last one to give a gift and it had nothing to do with the baby considering it was a package of pens and a long handled pair of grabbing claws for picking up fallen pens. Apparently, Shunsui had explained the late paperwork.

Needless to say, when the two shinigami got home, they were very tired. Jushiro immediately goes to the bedroom and lays down on the futon with a sigh, "Well, that was nice and I'm glad you made me go."

Shunsui lays down beside him and smiles, "We got everything we need and then some." He kisses his lover on the cheek before speaking again, "I hope our baby likes to wear yellow and green cause we got a lot of those colors."

"I'm sure the baby won't mind." Jushiro is quiet for a long time and when he finally speaks he has a serious tone to his voice, "Shunsui, can I ask you something? You'll probably think it's self evident, but I want to make sure you know."

The bearded man gives him a puzzled look, but nods anyway, "Yeah, you can ask me anything. You know that, Ju."

"I know you spend the night here all the time and you've been here every day and every night since we found out about the baby, but…" He licks his lips nervously before continuing, "I want you to move in with me officially and I want us to be together as a family. I want me, you, and the baby to live here together and I'm not asking you to give up your barracks because I know you'll still need them if you have to work late, but I want you to move all your important things in here and live here." He lets out a sigh, "I know we'll never have the most conventional family, but I want us to have as normal of family as possible and I want you to be here with me and our baby as much as possible."

Shunsui lets out an amused chuckle, "Did you actually think I might say no? I would love to stay here for always and I'll start moving in what isn't already here tomorrow."

Jushiro lets out a relieved breath and smiles, "I'm glad and I can't wait for us to be a family."

"We already are, Ju." He strokes his lover's white hair until the thirteenth captain is asleep and then the brunet slips quietly out of bed to get the disposable camera that Urahara sent them. He walks back into the bedroom and snaps a picture of Jushiro sleeping on the futon. The white haired man had already requested that no pregnant pictures be taken of him because he was swollen and fat, but Shunsui thought he looked more beautiful than ever before with a nice glow to his cheeks. He lets a smile grace his features as he sets the camera down feeling very proud of himself for getting the first photo of the mother and baby together.

TBC...


	11. We Need Help

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NA

I do not own Bleach.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The morning after the baby shower is a less hectic and irritating day for the two of them as both men wake whenever they please. Jushiro wakes first and lays in the bed quietly just watching Shunsui sleep. He enjoyed seeing his brunet lover looking so peaceful. He knew he'd been a handful ever since he'd gotten pregnant, but even though he knew he was being unreasonable and annoying, he just couldn't stop himself from acting that way. He was just glad that Shunsui was an understanding person and had graciously put up with all his pregnancy antics.

The thirteenth captain leans over and places a soft kiss on Shunsui's hairy cheek making the brunet slowly open his eyes to the smiling face of his lover, "Hey, Ju. Did you sleep well last night?"

"Better than usual." He smiles as he snuggles into Shunsui's arms, "That baby shower really wore me out and the baby must have been pretty tired too because it didn't even kick as much last night."

The eighth captain wraps his arms around his lover's warm body and takes in the scent of Jushiro's hair, "That's good. I'm glad you got a good night's sleep." The two of them lounge together lazily on the futon for a few minutes basking in the relaxed atmosphere of the morning until Shunsui speaks again, "How about we get up and I'll make us breakfast that we don't have to rush to eat?"

Jushiro lets out a content sigh, "That's sound delicious."

"It won't be cold this time." He sits up and stretches before getting out of the futon and helping Jushiro out of the futon as well. The lover's walk to the kitchen and Jushiro has a seat at the table as Shunsui prepares breakfast.

Once breakfast is ready, the brunet sits down beside his lover and the two of them eat enjoying the quietness and the pleasure that just being together brings. All during breakfast Shunsui notices the thirteenth captain fidgeting quite a bit at the table and he questions it, "Ju, is something wrong? You've been shifting a lot."

"It's this back of mine. I can't get comfortable anymore and when I wake up in the morning my back is killing me." A grimace takes over his features as he absentmindedly rubs his own back with his hand.

Shunsui stands up and helps Jushiro up as well and the two of them make their way to the living room, "Sit down and turn around." The white haired shinigami does as he's told and the eighth captain sits behind him, "I'll rub it for you. Just tell me where to start."

"It's down here." Jushiro points to his lower back and Shunsui begins kneading the soft skin hidden underneath his lover's pajamas, "Lower…to the left a little…just a little higher." The brunet follows Jushiro's directions and finally hears a satisfied sigh escape his lover's lips, "Right there, Shunsui."

The eighth captain chuckles, "I wish you were this helpful during sex. I could find the good spot faster if you were directing me."

"That isn't the same, Shunsui." He lets out a moan as the brunet presses harder into his sore back, "I have to make you work for my sounds during sex."

"Yeah, yeah." The massage continues silently for a moment until Shunsui begins to speak, "Hey, Ju, have you thought about who's gonna watch the baby when we both have to go back to work?"

"Not really, but I thought I would just take the baby with me." He lets out another pleased sound from the massage and closes his green eyes.

Shunsui's face reflects his disagreement with his lover's suggestion, but Jushiro doesn't notice since he's facing away from the brunet, "That won't work, Ju. You'll be too distracted with the baby there with you. The baby will cry and be hungry and you'll have to change it and it'll need a nap. Even if our baby was the most well behaved baby, the cuteness alone would distract everyone."

"Don't you think I've thought of that?" He lets out a sigh and opens his eyes again, "I don't know what else to do. We can't just let a random baby sitter in here even if we liked them. Seireitei security has been breach too many times to allow new souls to enter and even if the Head Captain allowed it, Central 46 would never let it happen."

The eighth captain frowns because he knows Jushiro is right, "Couldn't some of the squad members' watch the baby? The ones that have a day off of squad duty or something?"

Jushiro shakes his head, "There are two reasons why that won't work." He groans appreciatively at the work Shunsui's hands are doing to his back before continuing, "Firstly, if someone is off duty, they don't want to spend their day off looking after our baby and secondly, I want the baby to get used to one baby sitter. I don't want all kinds of sitters coming in."

The two men are quiet as both of them think about baby sitter conundrum in question. They're both thinking so hard about it that they don't notice the polite knock on the door until they hear the knocker's voice, "Pardon my coming in without being invited, but I knocked quite a few times."

The parent's to be look up at the apologetic voice to see Byakuya standing in the doorway. Jushiro is the first to speak, "Think nothing of it, Byakuya. Come in and have a seat. We were just discussing some things."

Byakuya walks further into the room and sits down a short distance away from them, "I could not help but overhear your discussion and seeing as I came over to inquire about what the two of you needed to help with the upcoming baby, I think I can help you. I also apologize for my absence yesterday. It was not intentional, but I had a few problems involving my clan that just could not wait."

They both give the Kuchiki heir a look of interest that is also mixed with confusion. Shunsui is the first to question their fellow captain, "We appreciate your concern and think nothing of missing the shower, but how can you possibly help with our baby sitter problem?"

The sixth captain laces his fingers together and places them in his lap, "I have more than enough servants at my manor and far too many that do the same job for lack of anything else for them to do. I could spare one of them to be your baby sitter." Jushiro opens his mouth to object, but Byakuya holds an elegant hand up to stop his words, "I will not take no for an answer. That will be my gift to you and it is very rude to refuse a gift."

Jushiro clears his throat before speaking, "We appreciate the offer, but Shunsui and I can't afford to pay one of your servants what they're used to being paid."

"You misunderstand me, Captain Ukitake." He looks from Jushiro to Shunsui and finally down at the very prominent bump underneath the thirteenth captain's clothes, "I will continue to pay her the same amount that she is getting paid now."

Shunsui looks at Jushiro before addressing Byakuya, "We couldn't possibly accept a gift like that. It's too much."

"I insist, Captain Kyoraku and as I said earlier, I will not take no for an answer." The nobleman stands up, "I will discuss it with my servant and send her to meet you. If you do not find her satisfactory, I will send another until you find one that the two of you prefer."

The thirteenth captain smiles as he stands up as well, "Thank you, Byakuya. We don't know how to thank you for your generosity."

The raven haired captain lets a small smile grace his features, "I think that having to put up with me in my youth is thanks enough, Captain Ukitake."

"Will you be staying for tea, Byakuya?" Jushiro turns toward the kitchen, but the sixth captain shakes his head.

"I am afraid I have pressing business at the moment." He begins walking toward the door, but stops before leaving and turns to face them again, "I wish the two of you the best of luck with the upcoming event of your baby's birth." The two of them give Byakuya their thanks and the Head of the Kuchiki Clan leaves their home.

Jushiro looks at Shunsui with an odd expression on his face, "Well, that was unexpected."

"You can say that again."

At six and half months (around 25 to26 weeks), everything seemed to be falling into place for the two captains. Byakuya sent by several servants and the two of them reluctantly chose the one they thought would work out the best. Jushiro was growing bigger every day and his feet were so swollen that he only walked around when absolutely necessary and he was banned from Captain's meetings all together. Shunsui had managed to move all his belongings into Jushiro's home and they had even set up a baby room. That night, the two of them fell asleep rather quickly after a long day of getting the baby's room prepared. Shunsui had tried to make Jushiro slow down claiming they had several more months, but the thirteenth captain insisted they finish that day.

During the night, the white haired shinigami feels a familiar tickling in his throat that he hadn't felt throughout the whole pregnancy. He sits up and clears his throat making sure not to wake Shunsui. He clears his throat a few times and when he realizes that won't do any good, he lets out as quiet of a cough as he can manage, but the quiet cough eventually turns into a violent fit of loud coughing that wakes the eighth captain. Shunsui sits up with a worried look on his face, "Jushiro, what's going on?! Are you okay?!"

The thirteenth captain continues to cough and when he finally pulls his hand away from his mouth, the familiar red hue of blood is staining his pale hands, "Something's wrong, Shunsui, I…" Jushiro lets out a pained sound and grabs his abdomen as he doubles over with renewed coughing.

The brunet, not knowing what to do, decides to get his lover to Squad Four as soon as possible and when he pulls back the sheets of the futon, he realizes that the blood isn't just escaping the thirteenth captain's mouth. The sheets are stained with blood and tears are streaming from Jushiro's eyes. Shunsui stands up and grabs his bloody lover into his arms and rushes out of the house without any shoes or robes as he flash steps to Squad Four in only his pajamas. He hoped he made it in time to save his best friend and their baby.

When the journey to Squad Four began, Shunsui could still hear Jushiro's pained cries of 'It hurts!' and 'Save the baby! Something's wrong with the baby!', but as the short journey came to an end, his lover was no longer speaking and Shunsui realized it was because the thirteenth captain had passed out.

The eighth captain bursts into the Squad Four building with Jushiro still in his arms and tears spilling from his own eyes. Jushiro's blood stains his pajamas and his skin and it drips to the white floor, but Shunsui didn't care. He just needed help, "Help me! Someone help me!"

Several Squad Four members emerge from the rooms in the back and within seconds Captain Unohana appears with a very concerned and terrified expression on her usually calm face. She commands her squad members and eventually a gurney appears and Shunsui lays his lover onto the gurney but never lets go of the thirteenth captain's hand as the gurney if frantically pushed down the hall.

When the gurney reaches a closed off room in the very back of the building, Unohana pries Jushiro's hand from the tightened grip of Shunsui's hand as the gurney in wheeled into the room. Shunsui's eyes widen as he tries to follow his lover, but Unohana places a firm hand on his chest, "I'm sorry, but you can't be back here."

Fresh tears stream down his face and catch in his beard, "But, he needs me! I can't leave him!" He tries to push his way passed the Squad Four captain, but she's stronger than she appears and pushes him back away from the door.

"If you want me to save your family then you have to let me help them." She gives him a stern look and he nods with reluctance, "I will keep you informed."

Captain Unohana disappears behind the door he's not allowed to enter and the eighth captain falls to his knees with a pained cry. He didn't understand what was happening, but he couldn't lose them…he couldn't lose either one of them. He could only hope that Captain Unohana was as skilled with this situation as she was with everything else.

TBC…


	12. How Do You Choose?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NA

I do not own Bleach.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shunsui sat outside the room Jushiro had disappeared behind for a long time. He lost count of the minutes or the time of day, but eventually a Squad Four member came along and helped him up from the floor and led him to the waiting area. He just followed numbly and sat down. He didn't know what he was supposed to do. There was nothing he could do but wait…wait and hope when Unohana returned it was with good news.

He didn't move from his spot in the waiting area and only watched as the Squad Four members milled around helping other shinigami. He saw Mayuri enter the building and rush to the room the brunet was forbidden to enter. Shunsui swallows the lump of anguish in his throat because he knew if they had to call the Squad Twelve captain to help it must be more serious than he thought.

The eighth captain sits by himself for a long time in silent shock until he feels a hand on his shoulder. When he looks up, he sees the face of his lieutenant and fresh tears escape his eyes as he stares into her worried face, "Nanao, I-I…"

He never finishes his sentence as his sobs overtake his body and the petite woman sits beside him as she wraps her thin arms around him, "I'm so sorry, captain." She rubs his back with her hand trying to calm him down. She hated to see her captain cry and it was a rare occurrence which made it even more heartbreaking, "I only just heard what happened moments ago. I came here as fast as I could." She continues to rub his back and his wavy hair with her delicate hand, "What happened, sir? I thought everything was going so well with Captain Ukitake's pregnancy."

The eighth captain raises himself from her embrace and wipes his eyes with his hairy hand, "I'm not really sure. I haven't seen him or heard anything since they took him away to that room." He points to the room in question and lets out a loud sigh of frustration, "Everything seemed to be going fine. We finished the baby's room and we were sleeping until he started coughing and there was so much blood. More blood than I've ever seen come out of him before and it wasn't just from the coughing." He runs a nervous hand through his hair, "He kept saying something was wrong with the baby, but he was unconscious by the time I got here."

Nanao grabs his large hand in her smaller one and rubs the skin with her thumb, "Have you been sitting here all alone? I could've come sooner if I had known."

"I don't even know how long I've been here." He shakes his head, "Can I talk to you about something, Nanao?"

She nods and gives him an understanding look, "Of course, sir. You can talk to me about anything." She can feel his hand trembling in her grasp and she pushes back her own tears to be the best audience for his thoughts and worries.

He swallows hard and a few more silent tears leak from his grey eyes before he begins speaking, "A few minutes before you got here, someone came out to tell me that Retsu was having some trouble getting them both stabilized. He didn't tell me much else, but he said that Retsu wanted me to be thinking about something." His voice is shaky when he speaks again, "She wants me to decide which one of them to save if it comes down to only saving one of them." He lowers his gaze to his lap, "How does anyone choose something like that?"

The lieutenant remains silent not really knowing what to say or how to ease her captain's concerns. They both stay quiet for a long time and finally Shunsui lifts his gaze to her face again before beginning to speak once more, "This is an impossible decision to make. Jushiro is my best friend and my lover and the mother of my child, I love him so much and he's always been there. In all my best memories he's there and I just can't imagine my life without him in it." He takes in a deep breath and slowly lets it back out, "Then there's the baby, I don't know anything about it. I don't know if it's a girl or a boy, what it looks like, how big it is, or anything, it doesn't even have a name yet, but I already love that baby so much and I can't lose it." He wipes his eyes and sniffles as he tries to continue speaking without crying, "I never thought I could love someone as much as I love Jushiro, but I love my baby just as much and I can't possibly choose." He gives her a pleading look as if she holds the answer to all his problems, "How do you choose?"

Her eyes are glassy with unshed tears behind her glasses as she finally speaks, "I don't know the answer to that, sir, but we can only hope that things don't come down to that choice."

The eighth captain chews on his bottom lip nervously as he rests his head on his lieutenant's shoulder, "I'm glad you're here, Nanao. I hope that if the baby is a girl, she's smart and beautiful just like you."

A smile lifts the corners of her mouth, "Thank you, captain, but I'm sure your child will be smart and good looking whether it's a girl or a boy."

The two Squad Eight members sit together silently until the door to the operating room opens making Shunsui sit up immediately. He stands up and meets Unohana halfway, "Are they okay?!"

She has blood all over her clothes and a grim expression on her face as she clears her throat before addressing his concerns, "We've managed to stabilize them both, but Captain Ukitake has lost a lot of blood and hasn't come to yet. It's too early to tell what will happen, but we didn't have to deliver yet. The longer the baby remains in the womb will increase its chances of surviving once it's delivered."

An expression of relief washes over Shunsui's features at knowing his lover and his baby are okay for the time being, "What happened? Why did this happen?"

"It seems that Captain Kurotsuchi miscalculated the dosage it would take to stop the coughing until the baby was born. He'd only ever experimented on female animal test subjects. He didn't factor in the added weight of a male and the dosage was a few months shy of being enough." She wipes her forehead with the back of her hand to stop the sweat from dripping onto her face, "The illness didn't pass to the baby and we've given Captain Ukitake another dose of the antibodies just in case."

Shunsui is quiet for moment as all the information sinks in and when he finds his voice it has a hopeful tone to it, "Can I see him?"

She nods, "He's still unconscious, but you can most definitely see him."

The brunet looks over his shoulder at Nanao and the lieutenant nods. He looks back at Unohana, "Then I want to see him."

"Right this way, Captain Kyoraku." The raven haired captain leads the way and Shunsui follows her. She opens the door and holds it for him as he enters the room, "Let me know if you need anything, Captain Kyoraku."

The brunet nods as Unohana shuts the door leaving him alone in the room with his lover. He walks toward the bed and sits down in the chair conveniently placed beside the bed. He looks at his friend and for a moment things don't seem so out of place. He'd sat by his lover's bedside many times throughout their friendship as the white haired man suffered through bouts of his illness, but this time was different. He looks at the lump sticking up under the sheet and he knows his baby is in there and that this situation is very different.

Shunsui lets out a nervous sigh as he grabs Jushiro's hand in his and squeezes it lightly, "You two really know how to make me worry." He places his other hand on the baby bump and immediately feels his baby's jiggling, unstable reiatsu. He frowns at how different that little reiatsu feels from the other night when he'd felt it. It used to be so strong and solid, but now it made him want to cry by how weak it was. He brushes his own reiatsu against the baby's reiatsu and he feels the feeble reiatsu attempt to hold his own there with it. A tear trickles down his cheek as he wraps his reiatsu around the needy one belonging to his baby.

For a long time, Shunsui just stares at Jushiro's pale face and rubs his lover's cold skin with his thumb as he continues to pacify his baby with his own enormous reiatsu, "I can't choose between the two of you, you know? It's an impossible thing to have to decide." He licks his dry lips and swallows to try and moisten his parched throat, "If I choose the baby then I don't have you and I can't raise a baby by myself. I need you to help me with simpler things than raising a baby and the baby needs its mother." He releases Jushiro's hand and begins stroking his white hair away from his face, "If I choose you then we will never be the same. We'll always think about the baby we lost and how our family died away before it ever even really began. I'm afraid that you would resent me for letting our baby die."

He tries to swallow back his sobs and hold in his tears, but it's an impossible attempt as the tears wet his face, "You have to hold on and be strong. I know if you're strong the baby will be too. If our baby is half as resilient as you then it should have no problem coming into this world." He returns his hand to his lover's hand and brings the slender hand to his lips where he places a small kiss to the cool flesh, "I love you and we will raise our baby together. I just know we will." He lets out a sigh, "We have to, Ju."

The brunet suddenly hears his lover groan and his green eyes slip open to stare straight at the eighth captain, "Shunsui, I…" Before the thirteenth captain can finish his sentence, his eyes roll back into his head as he begins convulsing on the hospital bed.

Loud beeps and sirens begin to sound from the equipment hooked up to Jushiro's body, "Jushiro!" Shunsui is soon pushed away as several Squad Four members including Unohana enter the room. The brunet watches the medical team surround his lover and he can only stare in horrified shock at the scene before him. Before he can ask any questions or find out what happened, he finds himself being pushed out of the room.

He once again finds himself staring at the same door as before as his gut clenches and unclenches around the cold, tight knot residing inside him. He lets out a yell of frustration as angry tears stream from his eyes. The next thing he feels are Nanao's hands on his arms as she guides him back to the waiting area. The lieutenant tries to ask him what happened and make small talk to distract her captain, but the brunet remains silent as the tears flow continuously from his eyes.

After almost an hour of waiting, the door opens and Isane Kotetsu walks out to meet them. She bows to the eighth captain before reporting her own captain's words, "Captain Unohana wanted me to report that the baby is in danger and needs to be delivered as soon as possible."

Shunsui stands up and grabs the tall woman by her shoulders, "Then what are they waiting for?!"

The Squad Four lieutenant flinches at his sudden touch, but speaks with a firm voice, "You, Captain Kyoraku. They're waiting for you. Captain Unohana says that you need to follow me and get dressed properly for the delivery."

Shunsui releases Isane as a terrified expression appears on his face, "But, it's too early. Jushiro's only twenty-seven weeks along!"

Nanao stands up and stomps her foot, "Do not argue, sir! Get your ass to that room and clean up! If Captain Unohana says it's time then it's time! Do not miss your child's birth!" Shunsui nods as he and Isane disappear into another room.

As the eighth captain washes himself and changes clothes, he can't help but feel nauseous and nervous. It was too early for the baby to be born, but if Retsu thought it needed to be done then who was he to argue. He just hopes that he doesn't have to make the impossible choice between his oldest friend and his baby that he's never met. A cold shiver races down his spine and goose bumps rise on his skin as Isane leads him into the delivery room. He takes in a deep breath as he enters and watches intently as the first incision is made to the pale skin of his lover's swollen abdomen.

TBC…


	13. He Made the Choice for Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NA

I do not own Bleach.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the first incision is made, the eighth captain didn't know where he was supposed to stand. He didn't want to be in the way, but he also wanted to be able to see the birth of his child as well as make sure his lover remained okay through the whole procedure. Isane finally notices his confusion and helps position him in a more desirable position.

Finally being able to see wasn't all it was cracked up to be. There was so much blood leaking from Jushiro's cut skin and one of the delivery assistance was steady wiping and suctioning the blood away to allow Unohana to do her job. The fourth captain carefully reaches into the opening made in Jushiro's body with a squelching sound and all Shunsui wanted to do was reach out and grabs his lover's hand, but he knew he wasn't allowed to touch anything.

There was more cutting and more blood as Unohana reaches a second hand inside the thirteenth captain's abdomen. After what seemed like hours of waiting, the raven haired captain lifts the tiniest creature Shunsui has ever seen out of the bloody cavity and for a moment he can't believe it's actually his baby. Then the worry sets in because not one cry is heard from the tiny baby and before Shunsui can even get a good look or find out if it's a girl or a boy, the baby is taken out of the room by Captain Unohana herself.

Isane begins the task of trying to close the opening made on the white haired shinigami's abdomen, but before she can manage a loud beeping can be heard and a profuse amount of blood floods out of his lover and spills onto the table and the floor. The beeping eventually turns into a continuous shrill sound. The fourth lieutenant begins ordering the assistants around as she tries to revive the thirteenth captain.

Shunsui finally realizes that the shrill sound is a sign that his lover's life is slipping away, "What's happening?! Is the baby okay?!"

One of the assistants is busy closing the incision as Isane places her hand on Jushiro's chest to send healing reiatsu into the half dead shinigami. She finally answers a worried Shunsui as she works, "The baby needed immediate attention and only Captain Unohana can help the baby now, but I need to boost Captain Ukitake's reiatsu." Sweat forms on her brow as she works, "It's so low and I don't think I can do it!"

Without being told what to do or even asked to help, Shunsui places his hands on his lover's body opposite of Isane's hands, "Let me help you! I know how to reach the deepest reserves of his spirit."

The tall lieutenant is hesitant for a moment, but eventually nods her head, "As you wish, Captain Kyoraku."

The brunet lets a wave of his own reiatsu flow into his lover's cold, pale body and almost immediately the shrill sound returns to the frantic beeping of before. The assistant eventually manages to close the incision and dress the wound as Shunsui and Isane continue to pump reiatsu into the deathly looking thirteenth captain. After several more desperate minutes, the beeping returns to a normal pace and the color begins to return to Jushiro's face. Isane gives Shunsui a relieved look before speaking, "That's enough, Captain Kyoraku. He can recover on his own from here."

The two of them take their hands off Jushiro's chest and they both slump down against the table holding themselves up by grabbing the edge, "Is he gonna be okay?"

She wipes her forehead and lets out a sigh, "It's hard to tell. He isn't out of the woods yet, but the hard part is out of the way…at least for him."

"And, the baby?" He looks into the lieutenant's eyes with a disturbed expression on his face, "Is the baby gonna make it?"

Isane shakes her head, "It's too soon to tell, but I'm sure Captain Unohana is doing her best to save your daughter."

Shunsui unconsciously grabs his lover's freezing hand at hearing that their baby is girl, "It's a girl? The baby's a girl?"

"Oh, I'm sorry!" She gasps as she covers her mouth with her large hands, "I forgot that you wanted it to be a surprise."

A tear of bittersweet emotion rolls down his cheek as he tightens his grip on Jushiro's hand, "I think I've had enough surprises for one day."

"I'm going to see if Captain Unohana needs any assistance." She leaves the room and Shunsui is left holding Jushiro's hand as the assistant's run around the room cleaning things up and checking vital signs. He was relieved that his lover was okay…at least for now, but he couldn't stop the worry gnawing at his heart for the fate of his daughter.

Jushiro was eventually moved to a more permanent room, which made Shunsui feel a lot better even if the white haired man hadn't woken up yet. It had been hours since the birth of their daughter and he still hadn't seen her or heard any news about her condition. He didn't know whether or not to consider it as 'no news is good news' or if it meant things were beyond repair. He couldn't even talk to his best friend about it which made it even worse. The eighth captain just sat beside Jushiro's bed in silence as he worried himself sick over both his lover and his daughter.

The baby looked so small from the short glimpse he saw of her and he didn't know how anything that small could survive, but he was hopeful. He knew that Unohana was a very skilled shinigami and he trusted her and had faith in her, but all the books said that babies born this early had very low survival rates. He lets out a frustrated sigh as he strokes Jushiro's cheek with the back of his large hand, "I wish you were awake, Ju. I'm so scared and nothing in my whole existence could have ever prepared me for this." He takes strand of white hair between his fingers and slips it between his index finger and thumb, "I've been in a lot of dangerous situations and plenty of terrifying battles, but this is by far the scariest thing I've ever been through."

He leans down and kisses Jushiro softly on his cheek before speaking again, "I just hope everything works out for the best and not just for us, but for her. I want her to be healthy and smart. I don't want anything to be wrong with her…not that I wouldn't still love her, but she deserves to be healthy and you deserve it. You've been through a lot of stuff that you shouldn't have had to go through." He wipes away the tears that are gathering in the corners of his eyes, "I love the two of you so much and I want both of you to be happy."

Before the eighth captain can say anything else, the door to Jushiro's room opens and Captain Unohana enters with an exhausted but relieved expression on her face. Shunsui begins standing up, but she gestures for him to remain seated, "How has Captain Ukitake been doing?"

"He's fine, I suppose." He looks at his lover's sleeping face, "He hasn't woken up yet though." He looks back at the fourth captain with an anxious expression on his bearded face, "How is the baby? Please, tell me she's okay."

Unohana lifts the blanket to inspect the incision on Jushiro's abdomen and nods her approval before lowering the blanket again. She checks various vital signs and sighs with relief at how well the thirteenth captain is healing. She finally looks at Shunsui to address his question, "She's not doing as well as I would like, but she's doing better than I expected."

The brunet swallows the hard lump in his throat, "What does that mean?"

The raven haired captain lets out a loud breath through her nose, "Your daughter is only one pound and some odd ounces. She's a tough one and she's hanging on better than I had hoped, but she still has a very long way to go. Her lungs are underdeveloped and she can't breathe on her own. She won't be able to swallow or suck for a few weeks meaning she'll have to stay here for a long period of time." She laces her fingers together and places them in front of her body, "However, her reiatsu is a lot stronger than I ever thought it would be. You should be proud of Captain Ukitake, he risked his life for the baby."

Shunsui gives her a confused look, "What do you mean?"

"His health bottomed out after the birth because he was giving the baby all of his reiatsu. I'm not sure if he was even conscious of his actions, but he saved the baby by infusing her with his reiatsu." A soft smile graces her features, "It's lucky that you were in the delivery room with Isane after I left. She could have never revived his reiatsu on her own."

Fresh tears fall from his grey eyes and it takes him several seconds to find his voice, "He made the choice for me. He knew I wouldn't be able to choose between him and the baby and he chose to save her all on his own." He grabs the thirteenth captain's hand in his once more as the tears stream freely from his eyes. He eventually looks up from his lover and back at the fourth captain, "Can I see her?"

Unohana nods, "Of course."

The two captains leave Jushiro's room and along the way, Unohana assigns Isane to look after the thirteenth captain in their absence. The walk to the baby's room is a silent one and Shunsui was a little nervous as to what he might see when he finally got to see what his daughter looked like. Captain Unohana stops in front of a door and smiles at him as she opens it. He just stands outside the door trying to work up his courage to enter. The raven haired woman looks at his worried face and places a hand on his shoulder, "Anytime you're ready, Captain Kyoraku. Your baby awaits you."

He nods as he lets out the breath he didn't even know he'd been holding, "I'm just a little nervous."

"That's understandable, but I assure you she's in good hands." She gestures toward the door once more and the eighth captain finally walks into the room.

His eyes immediately lock onto the incubator and his body follows his gaze until he's standing right in front of the incubator. He looks down and sees the tiny baby that is his and Jushiro's daughter. He sees all the tubes, wires, and IV's connected to her petite frame, but only one thought comes to his mind as he gazes at the little girl, "She's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

The fourth captain stands beside him and nods, "You should be proud knowing she belongs to you." The raven haired shinigami begins lifting the top from the incubator and Shunsui gives her a look of confusion, "Do you want to hold her?"

"Is that allowed? I don't want to mess anything up." He begins to panic as Unohana carefully lifts the black haired baby from the incubator, "I'm so big and she's so little and…"

"It's fine, Captain Kyoraku." She holds the baby close to her chest making sure not to jostle any of the medical equipment attached to her thin skin, "It's actually better for someone to hold premature babies. It makes them feel safe and since she can't regulate her own body heat yet, your body heat will keep her warm." She smiles down at the baby in her arms before continuing her speech, "Perhaps, it would be better to take your shirt off. Skin to skin contact is better when they're this small."

The brunet begins taking his shirt off even though he still isn't quite sure this is such a good idea, "It doesn't seem right. I always thought Jushiro would hold her first."

"He's held her for twenty-seven weeks and I'm sure he will understand considering the circumstances." Once the eighth captain removes his shirt, Unohana nods toward a chair gesturing for him to sit down. When Shunsui sits down, the fourth captain begins lowering the tiny baby into his arms, "Now, remember to support her neck and hold her close to your body so she doesn't get cold."

Shunsui's breath catches in his throat when the baby is finally nestled in his arms with her little body resting against his chest. A tingle shoots down his spine as a warm feeling takes over his body at being able to hold his daughter for the first time. His reiatsu immediately connects with hers and wraps her weak reiatsu in his strong one. A smile eventually forms on his face and he refuses to look at anything else in the room, "I'm a dad. I'm actually a dad."

Captain Unohana smiles at her fellow captain's realization, "That you are and she knows it too." The fourth captain glances at the monitor and nods approvingly, "Her vitals have already risen since you began holding her. She recognizes your reiatsu signature and she knows she belongs to you."

"Does she really?" He continues to stare at his daughter and marvels at how much smaller she looks in his arms.

Unohana nods, "Of course she does, you are her father after all." She looks at the two of them once more and begins walking toward the door, "I'll let the two of you get to know each other. If you need anything or if you want to take a break, call one of the squad members for help. Don't put her back in the incubator by yourself." The eighth captain nods and Unohana exits the room leaving father and daughter alone for the first time.

Shunsui just stares at his baby in silence for a long time, but he finally decides to break the quiet of the room and speak to his daughter, "Sorry, you don't have a name yet, but I just thought that maybe your mom should have some say in that. We didn't exactly talk about it before hand because we thought we had a few more months to decide." He licks his chapped lips as he pushes a strand of dark black hair away from the baby's forehead, "You look just like your mom. You know he used to have black hair too before it turned white. I just hope he'll be okay. He did a lot to make sure you got here in one piece." He leans down and gently places his lips on her forehead before snuggling her closer to his body, "I wish he could see you right now. I always thought our first family meeting would be all three of us sitting together and smiling. I never thought it would be this way, but we'll all be together sooner than you think."

Shunsui decides to stop talking and let the baby get her rest, but he says one more thing before going back to staring at her, "I love you and I'll never let anything hurt you." He feels the baby's reiatsu twist tighter around his own and he smiles.

When the fourth captain returns to check on them, she smiles at the scene before her. The baby and the eighth captain are fast asleep snuggled together.

TBC…


	14. Naming the Baby and Family Photos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NA

I do not own Bleach.

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The fourth captain hated to wake the new father considering the said father and the baby were sleeping so peacefully. She imagined they'd both had a hard day, but she couldn't very well let them sleep in the uncomfortable chair all night. Unohana walks toward the sleeping eighth captain and lightly shakes him making sure not to jostle the baby, "Captain Kyoraku, it's time to wake up."

She gently shakes him a few more times before he opens his grey eyes and registers where he is. He then looks down at the baby and smiles again, "I didn't realize I was so tired until I sat down."

"It's fine, Captain Kyoraku. You needed to get some rest." She looks at the baby's monitor and smiles at how well she's progressing by only being held by her father for a few hours, "Unfortunately, it's time for the baby to go back into the incubator and for you to get some real sleep." She carefully takes the baby from his arms and places her softly back into the incubator.

He puts his shirt back on and stares longingly into the incubator at his daughter, "How is Jushiro doing?"

"He still hasn't woken up, but his vitals are looking better the more the day progresses." She readjusts settings on the incubator to fit the new vitals of the tiny patient and turns to look at Shunsui, "You should go home and get some proper rest."

The brunet shakes his head, "I'm not leaving either of them. I wanna be here when Ju wakes up."

"I thought you might say that." She begins walking toward the door and he follows her, "I don't normally allow this, but for you and under the circumstances, I have set up and extra bed in Captain Ukitake's room for you."

A huge relieved smile spreads across his bearded face at Unohana's great news, "Thank you so much, Retsu. You don't know how much this means to me."

"Come along then and get your rest. You'll need it for everything you'll have to deal with in the future." The two captains make their way out of the baby's room and back to Jushiro's room, "Your lieutenant was kind enough to bring you a change of clothes."

Shunsui smiles as he sits down on the extra bed put out just for him, "She's a good kid."

Unohana nods, "Well, good night, Captain Kyoraku and congratulations on the birth of your daughter."

"Thank you, Retsu." He smiles at his fellow captain, "We couldn't have done it without you." She just returns his smile and leaves the room, allowing the eighth captain some privacy to change his clothes.

Shunsui lays down in the bed provided for him which is close enough to his lover's bed that he can reach out and hold Jushiro's hand as they sleep. He smiles when he feels how warm the thirteenth captain's hand is. It had been so cold earlier and the fact that it was warm again made him happier than he'd been almost all day. The brunet couldn't wait for those warm hands to hold their daughter. He wanted to see the big, beautiful smile on Jushiro's face when he looked at their daughter for the first time. As much as the eighth captain would have loved to watch his white haired friend all night, his eyes become heavy and he falls asleep even though he'd taken a nap while holding the baby. For now, he could only dream of the three of them being together, but soon his dreams would be a reality.

The next morning, Shunsui is awakened by the sound of his lover groaning. The brunet sits up and rubs the soft skin of Jushiro's cheek with his finger tips. The thirteenth captain finally opens his green eyes to see his best friend staring down at him, "Shunsui? Where are we?"

The white haired shinigami blinks a few times in confusion as Shunsui continues smiling down at him, "We're at Squad Four, remember?"

"The baby?!" Jushiro's hand immediately shoots down to his stomach as he tries to sit up, but the brunet places a hand on his lover's chest to prevent him from sitting up, "Is the baby okay?!"

"Calm down, Ju." He gently pushes the thirteenth captain back down into a reclined position, "The baby has a long way to go, but she's doing just fine. You on the other hand are all stitched up and you don't need to make any sudden movements."

Jushiro's emerald colored eyes widen at Shunsui's words and a proud smile forms on his pale face, "The baby is a girl? We have a daughter?"

Shunsui returns his lover's happy smile and nods, "And, she's so beautiful. I can't wait for you to see her. She looks just like you with her fair skin and she has the most gorgeous black hair, just like yours used to be, but it's not straight like yours." His smile widens as he continues talking about their little baby, "It's wavy like mine and she's so little, but she's such a trooper. I can't wait for us to be together and see you hold her."

A few happy tears slide down Jushiro's face at Shunsui's description of their daughter, "Did you hold her? Is she doing okay?"

"I held her yesterday and Retsu says just from me holding her, she's stronger than before." He wipes his lover's tears away with his finger, "Just imagine how much healthier she'll be when you get to hold her."

The thirteenth captain is quiet for a long time, taking in everything his brunet lover has told him about their child and begins sitting up, "I need to go see her."

"Wait, Ju." He stops the white haired man's departure from the bed, "You can't go anywhere until Retsu checks on you."

Jushiro lets out a frustrated sigh as Shunsui pushes him back onto the bed, "Then where is she? I want to go see our baby?

The brunet chuckles softly at his best friend's insistence, "I'm sure she'll be here soon, Ju."

Just as Shunsui had suspected, it didn't take the fourth captain long to appear once she sensed her white haired patient was conscious. She enters the room to see the new parents talking as if nothing serious had happened the evening before, "Good morning, gentlemen." The two of them turn to see the raven haired woman standing in the doorway and she smiles at their anxious faces, "Ready to check on the baby, I see." She walks to the side of Jushiro's bed and begins her examination, "I won't take too long and let the new family finally be together at last."

Shunsui watches her every move as she examines his lover, "Is everything okay?"

She nods as she finally examines the incision with a look of approval, "Everything seems to be getting back to normal." She addresses the thirteenth captain after replacing the blanket over his lower body, "Your daughter will never know how lucky she is to have a mother like you. If you hadn't risked your life and used your own reiatsu to save her, she wouldn't be here today."

Jushiro looks at her face for a moment and then looks at Shunsui before speaking, "But, I wasn't even aware that I'd done anything."

Unohana gives him a look of admiration as she speaks, "As your child grows, the two of you will do many things to help her that you never even thought was help. That's what it means to be a parent and one day when you least expect it, she will thank you for it and the two of you won't even know it was something that you needed thanking for." She holds her hand out to the thirteenth captain to help him out of the bed, "But, enough of my talking, I'm sure you want to see your baby."

Jushiro takes her hand long enough to get out of the bed and stand up. He then sits down in a wheel chair one of the assistants brought in at Unohana's orders. The three captains make their way down the hall to the baby's room and Jushiro feels as if his heart is about to beat out of his chest from the anticipation of finally getting to see the being that had occupied his thoughts and body for so long.

Unohana opens the door to the baby's room holding it open, allowing Shunsui room to push his lover into the room. The wheelchair finally stops in front of the incubator and Jushiro stands up from the wheelchair in order to see his daughter better. A warm smile appears on his face as he places his hand on the glass, wanting to touch her. The fourth captain opens the incubator and lifts the baby out just like before and gently hands her over to the thirteenth captain.

As soon as the baby is placed safely in his arms his heart skips a beat at the loving feeling that takes over his heart and the trembling reiatsu that meets his with familiarity, "She's so tiny, but she's so perfect." He turns to Shunsui with an awed expression on his face, "I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful baby."

The brunet smiles as he places his arm around his white haired lover's shoulders, "How could she not be beautiful when she looks like you?"

Unohana watches the three of them for a few minutes before breaking their family moment, "I'll leave the three of you alone and when I come back perhaps this little one will have a name." She gives them a wink before leaving the room.

Jushiro is suddenly pulled from gazing at his daughter's face to look at Shunsui with an amused look on his face, "I'd almost forgotten she needed name. We never picked one out."

"Yeah, because we thought we had more time." He places his large hand over the baby's head, but he brushes a stubborn strand of black hair away from her forehead with his finger, "What do you think we should call her, Ju?"

The thirteenth captain sits back down in the wheelchair still holding the petite baby as he thinks about an appropriate name, "Well, she's a blessing really. That's the best way to describe her." He brushes the same strand of hair away from her forehead that Shunsui had moved, "I never would have thought this was possible, but here she is and she's so beautiful."

Shunsui stands behind Jushiro and looks down at the baby before leaning down and placing a kiss on the top of his lover's head, "Then how about Emiko (beautiful blessing child)?"

An accepting smile springs to Jushiro's face, "It's perfect, Shunsui."

"Do you really like it?" He looks at the baby's face and thinks it's a wonderful name, but he wanted to make sure it's what Jushiro actually wanted to name her.

The white haired shinigami nods as he snuggles Emiko closer to his chest, "I love it."

The two new parents are so wrapped up in staring at their new addition, that they don't even hear the door open and the snap of a camera until a familiar voice says, "Got it, the first family photo."

The captains look up to see Nanao, Kiyone, and Sentaro standing in the doorway and the eighth lieutenant has the camera Urahara gave them in her hand. Shunsui bounds over to where they are and tries to grab all of them up with one hand to drag them toward the baby, "The three of you have to come see our kid. She's the prettiest thing you will ever lay eyes on."

The three visiting squad members are dragged to Jushiro's side to look at the baby and Sentaro is the first to speak, "Aw, what's her name, captain?"

The thirteenth captain looks up at them as he answers, "Emiko…isn't that a lovely name? Shunsui came up with it."

Kiyone nods, "I think it's the best name ever. I told Sentaro the baby would be cute."

"No, I told Kiyone the baby would be cute and look just like you, captain." He shoves the diminutive woman out of the way.

She bows her body up and clenches her fists, "You know good and well that I said the baby would look just like the captain!"

Emiko begins fidgeting as best she can with her limited muscle mass, but the message is clear, she doesn't appreciate the third seats' arguing. Nanao grabs both their shoulders and turns them toward the door, "Perhaps, the two of you should go and get Captain Ukitake a change of clothes."

The two arguing Squad Thirteen members make their way out of the room still squabbling. Shunsui looks at his lieutenant and smiles, "Thanks, Nanao."

Throughout the day and the week it seemed as if almost everyone from Seireitei came to visit little Emiko and they all had to have a picture. In fact, when Urahara came to visit, the camera was full so the new parents handed it over for him to develop the film. Luckily, the shop owner brought a new one with him. Every day someone from the Living World came to see Emiko. They all had to come one at a time to prevent too much traffic in the Dangai, but that suited Shunsui and Jushiro just fine and Emiko didn't know the difference.

When the family finally gets to leave Squad Four, Emiko is a little over a month old. She was still only four pounds, but that seemed like an enormous amount of weight compared to the one pound she weighed when she came into the world. Her hair was thick, black, and wavy and she had fair skin just like her mother, but her eyes were the shining grey color of her father's eyes.

The new parents say their thanks and goodbyes to Squad Four as they head back to their home to begin their new life with their brand new family.

TBC…

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Yes, you read that To Be Continued right. The next chapter will be after Emiko is 3 months old and show how well the new parents are coping. It will also be the last chapter and I'm kinda sad to see it end.

The baby's full name is Emiko Aya Kyoraku which according to Google Emiko means beautiful blessing child, Aya means unexpected, and we all know Shunsui's last name is Kyoraku. If those translations aren't right, I apologize.

Thanks for reading!


	15. I'm Glad You Kissed Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NA

I do not own Bleach.

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During the first week after bringing Emiko home, things weren't so bad considering all she mainly did was sleep, but as soon as she turned three months old, things were a different story. For the most part she was a good baby, but when she was hungry or sleepy, she turned into a screaming demon. At night, the new parents got about three hours of sleep before she began her begging to be fed and held. Needless to say, Emiko didn't spend much time in her own room or her own bed, but the two captains eventually learned to deal with their new schedule and sleeping arrangements.

Shunsui had to go back to squad duty a few weeks after Emiko was brought home, but Jushiro didn't have to start back until Emiko was four months old allowing him time to heal due to the complications during the baby's birth. The thirteenth captain often found himself alone with Emiko just talking to her as if she could understand everything he was saying. In fact, the white haired shinigami found himself doing that exact thing at this moment.

"Let's see, maybe we should put you in the dress Rangiku gave you tomorrow. I think she said she was coming over for a visit tomorrow afternoon." He turns to Emiko, who happens to be lying on the futon, with the dress in his hand as if he's showing it to her for her approval. He frowns when he sees that she's asleep, "You always nap when I need your opinion. You act just like your father."

He lays the dress out on the futon and nods his head deciding that it is the outfit for tomorrow, "Your daddy should be home any minute and you know he's going to wake you up with all his rowdy playing." He picks the dress up knowing Shunsui will swan dive onto the futon and wrinkle it as soon as he enters the bedroom.

Sure enough, within the next few minutes, the brunet enters the house with a loud greeting, "I'm home! Where's my baby?!"

"We're in the bedroom!" Jushiro rolls his green eyes at having to tell his lover where they were when it should be obvious considering they weren't in the living room.

The eighth captain soon appears in the doorway of the bedroom and smiles at the sleeping baby on the futon. He then makes his way to Jushiro and kisses his lover on the lips in greeting, "How has your day been?"

The thirteenth captain puts the dress in the closet and frowns, "Boring. All I do is walk around here talking to Emiko and I might as well be talking to myself considering she's either napping or crying for food. She reminds me of you."

"Ha, ha…just think about how you'll feel when you have to leave our little cutie to go back to squad duty." Shunsui kisses Jushiro once more before turning to the futon where he promptly dives onto it as predicted, waking the baby in the process. Emiko wakes with a startle, but quiets down as soon as Shunsui scoops her into his arms and greets her with his reiatsu, "How's my pretty little girl today?"

Jushiro shakes his head in disapproval, "I wish you wouldn't jump on the futon and jostle her so much."

"Aw, come on, mom! She likes it…don't you, Emiko? You like it, don't you?" He brushes her tiny nose with his and she smiles at the attention.

The thirteenth captain lays down beside them on the futon and smiles at the image of Shunsui holding their baby so lovingly. He stares at the two of them for a long time before speaking with a nostalgic tone in his voice, "I'm glad you decided to kiss me at Academy."

The pink clad captain tears his gaze away from his smiling daughter to look at his grinning lover, "Oh, really?" Jushiro nods and Shunsui continues, "I'm glad you let me take it to the next level after the first kiss."

"Don't say that in front of Emiko." He playfully shoves the eighth captain as his pale cheeks turn a soft shade of pink, "Did you ever think that one kiss would turn into all this. Did you think that after all these years we'd still be together and have a baby?"

Shunsui begins rocking Emiko in his arms and returns his gaze to her face as he answers his lover's question, "I knew I wanted to be with you forever from the first time I held your hand, but since I didn't know us having a baby was possible until a few months ago, I didn't quite predict her." He looks up at Jushiro again with an affectionate expression on his face, "But, if you're asking if I'm happy with the way things turned out then the answer is yes."

The thirteenth captain's smile widens at Shunsui's words, "I love you, Shunsui."

"I love you too." The eighth captain leans over to connect his lips to his lover's lips in a short but loving kiss.

That night, the two shinigami are in their futon sleeping, when Emiko decides it's a great time to test her lung capacity. The new parents open their eyes sleepily from the sounds of their daughter crying. Shunsui is the first to sit up, "I got it…I'll get her."

Jushiro nods and rolls back over as the brunet stands up and makes his way to the baby's room. He walks in and gives her a worried look, "And, what has you so upset this time of night?" He picks her up and wrinkles his nose, "I see." He carries her to the changing table with a frown, "Do you ever poop for your mom? It seems like every time I check on you in the night you have a present for me."

Emiko continues crying and her wails only get louder as he goes about changing her soiled diaper. When he's finished, he redresses her and picks her up, "Shhh, it's okay. Daddy has you and daddy will never let anything hurt you." He carries her to the kitchen and begins preparing her bottle as he continues talking soothingly to her, "You better be glad I love you cause I'm too old for this."

The eighth captain finally gets Emiko fed and back to sleep before making his way back to the bedroom. He crawls back under the blanket and wraps his arms around his lover's waist, "Hey, Ju? Are you asleep?"

The thirteenth captain groans, "I was trying to be. What do you want?"

Shunsui snuggles closer to the white haired man and buries his face in the crook between Jushiro's neck and shoulder, "Can we have sex?"

"It's the middle of the night." He lets out an exhausted yawn.

"I know, but Emiko's asleep and we haven't done it since you were pregnant." He frowns against his lover's skin, "That's been almost four months. I think I might explode if we don't do it soon."

Jushiro rolls his eyes, "I don't think you'll explode." He closes his eyes again trying to ignore Shunsui's persistence, "I'm tired."

"Pleeeeeease! I'll do all the work and I promise it will feel amazing." He snakes his hand underneath the blanket and gently caresses his lover's crotch through the fabric if his pajamas.

The thirteenth captain slaps the brunet's hand away in annoyance, "Stop it, Shunsui! I said I'm tired!"

"But, you always say that." He forgets trying to touch his lover and begins rubbing his own crotch against the clothed backside of his white haired friend, "I really want you tonight."

Jushiro lets out an aggravated growl, "Shunsui, stop it! I'm serious!"

The thirteenth captain continues to struggle against Shunsui's advances, but as he tries to move away from the bearded man, he finds himself underneath the eighth captain. The brunet smiles down at him as he places a kiss against Jushiro's lips, "It's been awhile since we were in this position." His smile widens as he lowers his mouth down to Jushiro's again and this time he deepens the kiss as he slips his tongue between his lover's lips.

He hears the white haired shinigami moan, making Shunsui feel extremely proud of himself as he continues to explore Jushiro's warm mouth with his tongue. The eighth captain eventually breaks the kiss as his lips travel down the pale neck of his lover. He continues down Jushiro's skin when the thirteenth captain makes no move to stop him and Shunsui pulls the shoulder of his lover's pajamas down to kiss the newly appearing flesh there, "Shunsui…Shunsui, I…"

The brunet doesn't stop kissing Jushiro's shoulder and begins pulling the pajamas open, but he doesn't get very far as the white haired man quickly covers himself with his hands and turns onto his side. Shunsui gives him a confused look, "Jushiro, what's the matter? If you really are that tired then we don't have to, but I thought you were enjoying it."

"It's not that I don't want to, but…" He shakes his head and readjusts his clothes.

The bearded man rolls off of his friend to sit next to him on the futon, "But what, Ju? Is it me? Did I do something you didn't like?"

"No, it's nothing like that." A conflicted expression appears on the thirteenth captain's pale face, "You're going to think I sound stupid or girly."

Shunsui reaches out and smoothes his hand over Jushiro's cheek in an affectionate manner, "I'm sure I won't think that. Tell me what's wrong."

Jushiro swallows his nervousness and turns to face the brunet, "I don't look the same as before and I'm afraid that when you see me naked you'll think I look terrible." Shunsui opens his mouth to respond, but Jushiro stops him as he continues speaking himself, "I'm not as big as I was when I was pregnant obviously, but I'm still not the weight that I was before and I have stretch marks and that scar on my stomach." He lets out a breath of anxiety, "I'm afraid you won't find me attractive anymore and that's silly, I know, but that's how I feel."

The eighth captain is quiet for a long time as he contemplates what to say. When he finally speaks again an understanding expression appears on his face, "I have been with you through countless attacks with your illness and I have witnessed you getting pretty beaten up in battles, not to mention I almost witnessed your death only months ago. I have seen you at your worst and if all of those things didn't make me run away screaming then a few little stretch marks and some extra pudge aren't going to make me think you're unattractive." He runs his large fingers through the snow white strands of his lover hair as he continues reassuring him, "The only thing I think about when I see those stretch marks or that incision is the fact that you brought our kid into this world." His voice trembles with his next words, "The fact that I get to see those things means everything to me because when you woke up and I saw all that blood…I-I thought I'd lost you and I thought our baby was dead." He pulls his lover into a tight embrace, "The fact that you and Emiko are here means everything to me and I could care less what kind of marks or scars you have."

Jushiro returns the embrace and smiles against Shunsui's shoulder, "I'm sorry that you had to witness something so terrible, Shunsui. I shouldn't complain about my body after all of that."

"You don't need to apologize, Ju." He breathes in the smell of the thirteenth captain and tightens his hold on the white haired man, "You and Emiko are with me and that's apology enough."

The two shinigami silently embrace for a long time until Jushiro breaks the quiet of the bedroom, "Let's do something about your possible explosion. I wouldn't want to have to explain that to anyone."

Shunsui laughs as he releases the embrace and kisses his lover again, "We really don't have to have sex if you don't want to, Ju."

"I want to." The brunet helps his lover lay back down on the futon and they help each other out of their pajamas before Shunsui resumes his position on top of the thirteenth captain.

Shunsui once again makes his way down his lover's body using his lips and tongue, stopping only to lazily circle one of Jushiro's nipples with his tongue. He circles the current nipple a few times before giving it a little nip with his teeth before moving on to the other one. Jushiro lets out a soft moan as the brunet tires of teasing his nipples and kisses his way down his chest to his abdomen. The eighth captain lifts his head to gaze into his best friend's green eyes before placing a tender kiss to the raised, pink scar resting on Jushiro's lower abdomen, "You're perfect, Ju."

A tint of red dusts the thirteenth captain's cheeks at Shunsui's words as the brunet places his hands on Jushiro's pale thighs to gently coax them open. He then rests his body between his white haired lover's thighs as very lightly strokes the hard, heated flesh between Jushiro's legs, "Sh-Shunsui…ah!"

The pale captain lifts his hips to try and gain more friction, but Shunsui pulls away, "Not yet, Ju. It's been too long and I don't want this to end just yet."

The bearded shinigami stretches his arm out to reach the lube and quickly opens it to gather some of the slick content onto his fingers. As he prepares his lover's extremely snug opening, said lover grips the sheets of the futon as several sounds of pleasure fall from his lips, "That's enough, Shunsui. Please, just do it."

Shunsui nods as he spreads the lube onto his length with a groan. He then opens his lover's legs a little wider as he guides the head of his cock into the tight ring of muscle, "Oh, it's…it's been t-too long." He bites his bottom lips with his teeth as he pushes in some more, "You're so tight…ah hah... and it's so g-good."

He finally enters his entire length into his lover and waits until Jushiro wraps his slender legs around his waist before pulling his hips back and snapping them forward with a sigh of pleasure. Before long, the only sounds in the bedroom are the blissful moans and groans of the two men at the height of pleasure. The thirteenth captain lets out a gasp as his sweet spot is hit, "I can't…last much longer…I-I'm so…close, Shunsui!"

The brunet's thrusts become erratic as he pounds into his lover harder, "I'm close too, Ju!"

With a few more thrusts and a couple of tugs to the white haired captain's erection, the lover's reach their climax together with a cry of each other's name. Shunsui rolls onto the futon to lay beside Jushiro and is about to wrap his arms around the thirteenth captain when they hear the high pitched cries of their daughter. Jushiro chuckles softly, "Apparently, cuddling is against the rules."

Shunsui sits up and heads to the restroom, "Let me wash up a bit and I'll get her."

"Are you sure, Shunsui? You did it last time." He sits up and uses the edge of the sheet to wipe his own skin clean.

"No problem, Ju." The sound of water can be heard splashing in the restroom and before long Shunsui emerges and begins redressing, "You just get some sleep, love."

With those words, the brunet leaves the bedroom to go check on Emiko and unknown to him, Jushiro watches the fatherly interaction through the baby monitor they received as a shower gift and he smiles.

Two weeks later, Jushiro is once again burdened with squad duty. He welcomes the baby sitter and soon, he and Shunsui are out the door. However, Jushiro doesn't get very far away from the house before stopping and looking back. Shunsui walks to stand beside him and places a hand on the thirteenth captain's shoulder, "Come on, Ju. You don't wanna be late on your first day back."

The white haired man lets out a heavy sigh, "Do you think she'll be okay? I wish I didn't have to leave her."

"She'll be just fine with the baby sitter and I know you didn't wanna leave her, but she's not gonna be a baby forever." Jushiro rests his head on Shunsui's shoulder as the brunet continues talking, "She's gonna be a grown up woman one day so you might as well start giving her some space now."

Jushiro lifts his head and gives the eighth captain a frown, "Why did you have to bring that up? I just want to imagine her being a baby forever."

"I didn't mean to upset you, Ju." He kisses his lover on the forehead and smiles, "Let's get to work now."

The two captains begin walking again and just as they're about to part ways, Jushiro speaks, "Shunsui, how would you feel about having another baby?"

"I'm not used to the one we have yet." He looks at his best friend for a moment and a worried expression appears on his face, "You haven't ingested anything strange from any mad scientists lately, have you?"

A sly smile appears on the thirteenth captain's face, "Not lately, but you never know when I might need lozenge." Jushiro laughs at the horror-stricken look on Shunsui's face, "I'm kidding, Shunsui. We would discuss it first."

Jushiro turns and begins walking in the opposite direction and he can hear Shunsui's words behind him, "This isn't funny, Ju! I don't want any more surprises!"

The white haired shinigami chuckles to himself and can't wait until he's back at home holding Emiko in his arms again.

The End.


End file.
